Notes and Words
by yuniesan
Summary: Riley Matthews is an A student, she loves to write stories and take pictures, but doesn't have friends, and those who call her their friend only use her to copy her notes and homework. One day while she was on the bus from her dorm to school she happens to meet Lucas Friar. In that one moment her whole life changed. Now she's experiencing life unlike she ever has before.
1. Chapter 1 - First Meetings

_**A/N: This story was originally posted on both Tumblr and WattPad, I started writing it before I became obsessed with writing The Cinderella Promise. This is still a work in progress, but it will be completely finished by the end of the month. I just never thought to post it here, because I originally used this account to read fics. This fic is a mixture of the manga Kare First Love, my love of boarding school YA books, and Girl Meets World, I hope you like this story as much as The Cinderella Promise.**_

 **Chapter 1 – First Meetings**

The bus from the dorm was packed with people on their way to school or work. The dorms were several bus stops away from the school normally she would take the shuttle bus but that morning she had missed the bus. She had run towards the bus but the driver hadn't seen her and kept going, she felt invincible each time it had happened but instead of moping around she walked towards the city bus stop and waited there. She had decided on going to an all-girls high school because she wanted to focus on her studies but she also felt awkward around other people. She felt that going to a school with just girls would take some of the pressure off but she still felt weird around other people.

As the bus moved down the road Riley grabbed onto a handle and pulled out her favorite book, it was a mixture of a travel narrative and beautiful photographs. The book was by one of her favorite authors, he made traveling the world seem like an adventure written in beautiful words, it also encompassed her favorite hobbies writing and photography. Both were things that she didn't need friends to accomplish because the stories she wrote were made of friends she created and not those treated her as though she were expendable. When she took pictures she was able to capture the small things in life that made her own life beautiful.

The bus jerked and Riley's glasses began to slip down her face, "Hey check out four eyes," someone said from behind.

Riley hated taking the city bus because some of the students from the nearby all-boys school took it as well and they would often make fun of Riley because of how she looked. Or they would make loud comments that would just make her uncomfortable. As the bus moved along their comments about her started to annoy her.

"Dude, she goes to that all-girls school right, why is her skirt so long?" the same voice said.

"Zay stop making comments about someone you don't know," someone said.

"I'm not the one eyeing the girl, geez your taste in girls has gone down man. She's definitely not your type."

Riley tried her best not to get angry by the comments or turn around and throw her book at them. Instead she turned up the volume on her headphones and continued reading her book. She was listening to her before school playlist which was filled with a mixture of music mostly rock because she was preparing herself for the long eight hours at school listening to everyone's trivial lives. As the bus reached her stop it jerked her away from the handle and she landed in the strong arms of a boy. When she looked up she saw his forest green eyes looking down at her, his arms were wrapped around her body holding her in place.

"I got you," he said to her but she jumped out of his arms dropping her book. Instead of talking she pushed her way towards the back doors. "Hey you dropped your book," he said as he lifted it off the ground catching her skirt in the process and pulling it up revealing her cuddle bunnies' underwear.

She felt her cheeks redden as she screamed and ran out of the bus. 'Why does this always happen to me?' she thought to herself as she ran down the block towards the school. Some of the local students were making their way towards the building smiling happily but Riley just wanted to drown herself in the school fountain. When she got to her classroom the embarrassment began to die down. She would never see these boys again why should it bother her.

"Oh hey Riley," Missy said as Riley sat down at her desk. "I need to copy your homework, and your notes because I didn't finish it yesterday."

'You're such a liar Missy you never do any of your homework you just copy everything from me and the fact that the teach hasn't noticed drives me nuts,' Riley thought to herself but instead of telling her that Riley just smiled and nodded at Missy.

"Hey Riley, I heard you missed the bus this morning and ended up on the bus with a bunch of guys from that nearby all-boys school," Darby said from her desk. "I heard that they were giving you a hard time."

Riley wanted to scream because she had hoped that no one would have seen what had happened.

"I heard about a girl screaming on the bus because someone pulled up her skirt," Sarah said bring up the most embarrassing part of her day and it wasn't nine yet."

"I heard that the boys from that school are hot, maybe we can set up a get together so we can get to know them better," Missy said looking at Riley. "Do you think you can set that up?"

"No thank you, I have a lot of studying to do," Riley tried to say but Missy was already moving around the room asking which girls would be interested. She stopped in from of Maya Hart's desk and smiled.

"Hey Maya you want to come with us?" Missy said looking down at Maya who was busy drawing something on a sketch book. "Hello Maya you heard me?" Missy tugged on Maya's hair but the girl didn't seem phased by it.

"I don't want to I already have a life and a boyfriend," Maya said as she got up and walked away from her desk. When Maya was gone Missy huffed and walked towards her own desk.

"Why is she like that, god she is so stuck up."

"I heard that she's trying to get into some big name art program," Sarah said.

Riley tuned them out as they talked about Maya and the boys from the nearby school. She heard Missy reminding her that she wanted the notes as she walked out of the room.

"Stupid Missy, why can't she just leave me alone," Riley said as she walked around the corner. "Why is she like this anyway we were never freaking friends. This is why I don't like talking to people."

"If you feel that way why don't you tell her," Maya said startling Riley.

"I didn't see you there," Riley said.

"Don't worry I won't tell, but Riley you have to learn to stand up for yourself. Don't let her push you around."

Riley stayed quiet as Maya walked back to their classroom, Riley walked back a minute later hoping that the excitement died down. As her classes went by everyone changed to new subjects and slowly stopped talking about the embarrassment that she had faced earlier that day. By the end of the day she was just happy that school was over and that she would get the chance to finish her favorite book. When she looked in her bag to pull it out for the walk home she realized that the book was missing. That was when she realized that she had dropped it on the bus after that guy had grabbed onto her. All of her favorite parts were highlighted and tabbed so that she could go back and read them whenever she could. It felt as though a part of her was missing.

As she reached the school gates a bunch of girls were squealing and talking about some hot guys they had seen at the front. Some of the girls thought that a couple of girls were being picked up by their boyfriends. Riley didn't care about that, she wanted her book and it was missing. She didn't even notice the guys everyone was talking about until one of them spoke.

"I went through all the trouble of coming here and you're ignoring me?" he said. Riley recognized the voice. "You dropped your book earlier," he said.

She looked up at him shocked, "Um…" was all she could say before Missy jumped in.

"Don't mind her, she's usually really quiet, Hi I'm Missy, I'm Riley's hot friend and what is your name?"

"Lucas… Lucas Friar," he said his voice made Riley feel like something warm was rising through her body.

"Well Lucas would you like to hang out with us today?" Missy said pulling him away from Riley.

"Sure, as long as I get the chance to talk to Riley," he said. Missy looked at her pissed because one of the hottest guys in the group had wanted to talk to Riley.

"Sure she'll be there," Missy said before breaking away and grabbing Riley, "You're going he's cute and I want him so you're going."

Riley didn't know what to do, she wanted her book back but if she didn't go she knew that Missy would make her life a living hell. "Sure," she said in a quiet voice.

"Great let's go," Missy said grabbing Lucas by the arm and pulling him away. His friends trailed behind and Riley was the last one to move forward. The group ended up at a nearby karaoke place that had isolated rooms for groups. Missy's uncle ran the place so she had them bring by alcohol to the teenagers even though they were all dressed in their school clothes.

"So do you guys want to introduce yourselves?" Missy said to the guys.

One of the guys got up and danced their way towards Missy "Hi, my name is Zay, I'm single and you're hot," he said. Riley recognized the voice automatically as the one that had made the comments about her while she was on the bus.

"Anyway, next," Missy said.

One of the guys looked up from his computer and said, "I'm Farkle, and I was dragged here today even though I need to finish my project."

"Right," Missy said once they were all introduced to each other. "Give me a sec," she said before leaving the room.

"Listen man," Zay said to Lucas. "I want to be with Missy so can you step back and let me have her. I know every girl will throw themselves at you but let me have this one please, she's hot and totally my type."

"That's okay with me, I don't really care," Lucas said looking at Riley.

Missy walked back into the room with a bottle of something brown and didn't look like soda, Riley was worried about what Missy was up to.

"Let's make this interesting," she said dropping some hard alcohol into the beer they were given when they arrived. Missy sat down next to Riley and whispered in her ear, "Listen I want Lucas so make me look good, and leave him alone."

Riley nodded because all she wanted to do was go home and read her book. Instead she picked up her drink and started chugging it not realizing that she hadn't picked up her orange juice because she had just wanted to do something that wasn't listening to Missy.

"Hey look at the dork, she's really drinking that fast," Zay said when Riley looked up she realized that it wasn't her normal drink.

"Oh my god, her face is all flushed," Missy said. The two of them started making fun of Riley together, laughing about how she looked. Instead of sitting there and listening Riley got up and walked out of the room. She ran to the nearby bathroom and splashed water on her face. The alcohol was already making everything fuzzy.

"Are you okay?" Lucas said as he walked into the girls' bathroom.

"Yeah I'm fine," Riley said as the room began to spin.

"Come on I'm taking you home," he said. Riley hadn't realized that he had their bags in his hand because the room all of a sudden dropped out from her.

* * *

Riley woke up the next day confused over where she was, it didn't look like her bedroom the walls were white instead of purple, there weren't any pictures on the walls. The room felt empty.

"You're finally awake," she heard Lucas say. Riley's first reaction was to try and scream but instead his lips were on hers stopping anything from coming out. Riley felt that warm feeling spread throughout her body again and butterflies began to form in her stomach.

"You're really beautiful without your glasses," he said when he pulled away.

Riley felt her face redden and pulled herself as far away from him as she possibly could, she saw her backpack on the floor and immediately went to grab it and runaway instead she stopped when she realized that she wasn't wearing her own clothes instead she was in shorts and a t-shirt.

"I had to wash your clothes last night, I didn't see anything so don't worry about that, it was better than leaving you in them since you… um threw up on them."

"Oh god," she said wanting to crawl under the sheets. Her lips could still feel his but she wanted to forget everything, it was her first kiss and it shouldn't have happened that way. Nothing was going right for her.

"Come on, you can shower and change so I can take you to school."

"Crap," she said scrambling away from the bed and into the bathroom. When she closed the door she thought about Lucas and her stolen first kiss.


	2. Chapter 2 – Shocks and Heartache

**Chapter 2 – Shocks and Heartache**

"You can't stay in there forever," she heard Lucas yell from the other side of the door.

"I know," she yelled back but she didn't want to face him, he had stolen her first kiss, and she doesn't remember anything from the day before.

The last thing she remembers was walking out of the room and getting dizzy. Her school uniform was sitting on the counter folded neatly, she could tell that it was recently cleaned which meant that Lucas had washed it when they arrived at her place.

"Um Lucas, can you fill in the blanks in my head I can't remember anything from yesterday," she said as she took off her clothes and headed towards the shower.

"I will when you get out here okay, just finish up and we'll talk on the way to school."

Riley showered and washed her hair to get the smell of alcohol that had settled in the night before out. She picked up her clothes realizing that she would have to wear the same underwear she had on the day before, 'Ew,' she thought to herself but it was a necessity since she wasn't going to go to school with her butt up in the air. Once she was finished she noticed a toothbrush on the counter, he must have left it for her. It was sweet of him since she didn't know how to brush her teeth and she was a neat freak about certain things. Once she was decent she opened the door and faced him head on but he wasn't in the bedroom.

"I'm over here, let's go we can grab some food on the way," he said as she joined him in the living room.

"Where are your parents?" she asked.

"I live alone," he replied without explanation. She wanted to ask more but instead she walked outside. "You're not wearing your glasses?" he questioned.

"They're just for show, I don't really need them. I haven't needed them since I was in elementary school but I wear them as a shield, although it never works," she said wondering why she was giving him so much information about herself, instead of saying anything else she put on her glasses and walked towards the nearby bus stop.

"We have to take my bike, we would never make it in time if we took the bus," he pulled on her arm towards a nearby parking lot.

Her eyes went wide when she saw his bike, it wasn't a bicycle it was a motorcycle something she would never ride, something she was afraid of but he was right they wouldn't make it to school in time because their schools weren't in the same area.

"Here," he handed her a helmet and put his on his head. "Remember to hold on as tight as you can, I don't normally ride with another person so I don't want you falling off."

She nodded too scared to say anything, she got on his bike right after him and put her arms around his waist. His scent calmed her for some reason, it felt familiar and comforting even though they had only met just recently.

"You still haven't told me what happened last night," she said as he started the bike.

"I will if you meet me after school today," he said but she didn't want to. She knew Missy was after him and if she showed any interest in him Missy would probably tear her to pieces.

"I can't I have to study today," she said.

"Liar, you just don't want to meet up with me."

As he drove she squeezed his stomach inhaling his scent because she knew that this was as close as she would ever get to being with him. Even though she didn't consider Missy her friend she knew better than to go against her. Missy destroys girls who get in her way and she didn't want that on her conscience. He dropped her off a block from the school and said his goodbyes before racing off to his own school. He was still a mystery to her but she couldn't solve it, she wouldn't try she was saying her goodbyes for good.

When she reached her classroom she didn't know what she would say to Missy about her sudden disappearance from the day before, but she decided that she wouldn't bring it up unless Missy did and walked into the room and took her usual seat. The shock of the kiss and the ride to school had already exhausted her but she had to get through the day. She pulled out her books and placed them on her desk noticing that there was an extra book in the pile. He had returned her favorite book to her without telling her. 'That was sweet of him,' she thought to herself.

All of a sudden Missy sat down with a disgruntled look on her face, "I can't believe Lucas left yesterday, I didn't even get the chance to get his number. His friends wouldn't give it to me, and that Zay guy kept trying to get together with me even though I didn't want to be with him. Ew gross doesn't he understand that I want Lucas."

Riley didn't say anything she just sat there as quiet as she could, she didn't want Missy knowing anything since she thought that Lucas had left on his own the day before.

"I did find out a cologne he wears," Missy said but Riley automatically thought that that was creepy. "I got it yesterday, he has good taste," Missy paused and smelled the air. "You kinda smell like it too but you don't wear perfume."

'Crap,' Riley thought to herself. "I could have picked it up from someone on the bus today."

"Yeah it is a popular brand, plus he didn't seem interested in you anyway," Missy replied but Riley thought if she had heard about the kiss things would be different. "Plus you and him wouldn't work, he's too perfect and you are so not."

'Of course he wouldn't want to be with me,' Riley thought to herself as class began.

When lunch came she snuck off towards her favorite hiding place, the school gardens, with her book. No one was around and it was far away from where Missy was. She pulled out her book and started reading about the writer's adventure through India, each picture was a reminder that there was another out there, one that was far from any high school drama that could be brought up. A chuckle brought her out of her trance and made her look up to see Maya standing at a nearby tree looking at an art history book.

Riley stood up suddenly dropping her book, something came out from between the pages but before she could pick it up Maya had grabbed it. It was a picture taken on one of the polaroid camera, but Riley didn't see what it was. It wasn't hers and she knew it because she hadn't gotten one of those cameras yet.

"Nice shot," Maya said before handing her the picture. "Did that guy who dropped you off this morning take it?"

Riley was speechless she didn't know what to say. She hadn't known that Maya had seen her with Lucas and she was afraid of it getting back to Missy.

"Don't worry I won't tell, but you really should stand up for yourself you know," she told her as the handed her the picture. "See you in class."

Riley slid down the tree clutching the photo, it was a picture of her sleeping from the night before. 'Was this the way Lucas looked at her?' she wondered before flipping the picture over and seeing something written on the back. It was his number written in black ink, she didn't know what to think about this, maybe he was interested in her but she didn't want to show him the same affection. Maybe she was afraid of the possibility of a relationship, but she was also afraid of what would happen. Her life hadn't been so complicated before.

After school she stopped by the nearby drug store to grab anything that she needed before heading home. She didn't want to have to go back out if she needed anything and run the risk of someone finding her, that someone being Lucas. As she stood there she noticed the make-up section, she hadn't ever worn make-up before and didn't know what would look good on her, but she didn't want to take a chance. She picked up a nail polish that she could try out when she got home and put it in her basket.

"You should wear a little make-up, it's weird for a girl to not have any at all," said a familiar male voice behind her.

"I don't like it, it feels as though it was restricting my face," she said as she turned around and faced Lucas.

"How about lip gloss," he said pulling out a strawberry flavored gloss. "You could wear this one, it has a little tint to it and it would look nice on you."

"Why are you here? And why do you care so much anyway?"

"I don't know maybe it's fate that we keep running into each other, maybe I like you and would like to get to know you, maybe it would look good on you to put some effort into your appearance," he stopped and shook his head. "On second thought I don't want any other guys looking at you. I want you all to myself instead."

Riley felt her cheeks redden, instead of responding she pulled away and started walking in the other direction. When she reached the register and paid for her things she realized that Lucas had brought that lip gloss he had picked up earlier and paid for it. As the two of them walked out of the store he handed it to her and smiled.

"Wear it next time we meet," he said before walking away.

Her heart was beating as fast as it could in her chest, at the chance encounter she had had with him. She wanted to say something but instead stood stock still watching him walk away from her. Her feelings were becoming real in her own heart and she didn't want them there, she wasn't supposed to have these feelings, she had been alone for a long time and she had liked it that way because she was always afraid of people hurting her. Now this boy was slowly breaking down those barriers.


	3. Chapter 3 – The Truth in my Heart

Chapter 3 – The Truth in my Heart

Riley stood in the school bathroom looking at the lip gloss that Lucas had brought for her, it had a slight tint and smelled like strawberry. She wondered if any kind of make-up would suit her at all but why would he buy it for her? Was he making fun of her because she was so shy? She began pacing back and forth in the bathroom constantly going back to where the lip gloss was. She wasn't a rebel type of girl, she wasn't the flirty, kind either sow what was she doing when it came to Lucas? He must be making fun of her, or did her genuinely like her?

"Oh cute lip gloss," Missy said as she put it on her lips startling Riley.

"Wait," Riley said before she could stop Missy. "That was mine."

"But it looks good on me, don't you think?" Missy said smiling at Riley. "Don't you think Lucas would like it on me? He would probably think it was cute and ask me out on the spot."

'Of course he would like it, he brought it for me you evil wretch,' Riley thought to herself but didn't say it out loud. But instead of telling Missy that she just smiled and said, "Of course you can borrow it."

"Thanks, just do me a favor and don't put it on when Lucas is around it might give him the wrong impression, now let's go or we'll be late."

Riley stood there wondering when it was that everything went wrong in the last week, Missy was trying to impress Lucas with the lip gloss he brought for her. She couldn't stop him from kissing her the day she woke up in his apartment. He saw he favorite underwear and his friends made fun of her for it.

"You should be happy Riley, today you will meet for future boyfriend Zay, because I need you to take him so that Lucas would see me."

"What? Zay?" Riley said as Missy pulled her out of the bathroom.

"Well I want to go out on a date with Lucas and Zay interferes way too much so I need you to take care of him while I have my date."

'No,' Riley screamed in her head, 'No no no no no no no no no."

"Come on or we'll be late."

Not too long afterwards Riley found herself at the mall with Missy, she really needed to stick up for herself because her life had just become ridiculous with everyone of Missy's whims. The crowds surrounded them and she hoped that if she lost Missy she would be able to go back to her dorm and hide. But she knew that Missy wouldn't let her, even worse she would bang on her door and bitch about Riley leaving.

"Come on we're going to miss the elevator," Missy said as she ran towards the crowd of people heading to the now open elevator.

Riley felt like her life was repeating itself because Missy had dragged her to hang out with Lucas and his friends just the other day. She really didn't want to go but she found herself rushing towards the elevator. She knew that she couldn't say no to Missy, she would pay for it in the long run. As she reached the elevator Missy wave at her, "I'll meet you up there," was all she said as the doors began to close. Riley would have made it if Missy had held the door for her but instead she tripped and was about to fall when someone grabbed her waist.

"Crap the elevator left," she said.

"Well you should probably be more careful little miss clumsy," she heard Lucas's voice from behind her. She could feel her face redden as he held her close, the image of him kissing her came flooding back to her. "Hey why aren't you wearing the lip gloss I gave you?"

Riley didn't know how to answer him her mind was a stuttering mess and the words wouldn't come out. All that she could say was, "I… um… I haven't tried it on yet."

"Well you should it would look cute on you," he said making her blush even more. He thought she was cute.

"Um, well," she was going to tell him about Missy and the lip gloss when someone yelled out his name making her turn around.

"Lucas," his friend Zay was coming around the corner, Missy not far behind him. "Hey I thought we wouldn't find you," Zay said hinting at something.

"What were you two talking about," Missy asked.

"Nothing really, just catching up," was all Lucas said. Riley blushed knowing that he was lying to his friend and to Missy but she didn't want to say anything. "Hey nice lip gloss Missy."

"You like it, I'm glad," Missy said smiling at him.

"Yeah I've kissed a girl who's worn the same one," he said giving Riley a knowing look before turning around.

"Wait, does that mean you have a girlfriend?" Missy squeaked out.

"Maybe, I'm not one to kiss and tell," was all he said.

"Tell me," Missy said as they walked away.

Riley stood there trying to figure out what was happening, he was teasing her, he didn't really think that she was cute at all he was just making fun of her and messing with her emotions. He's a jerk who liked to mess with her feelings that's all nothing more.

"Hey since there's four of us why don't we pair off and have some fun," Missy said breaking Riley out of her trance. "Riley you go with Zay since he's your type." Missy pushed Riley towards Zay, Riley was too shocked to say anything.

"Wait no, I want to hang with you Missy," Zay said. "She's not my type at all."

Missy nudged her, "Come on Riley," she whispered in her ear. It wasn't fair she didn't want to be there, Riley wanted to go home and not have to deal with anything at all. Someone tugged on her uniform and pulled her away.

"She doesn't look too good, I'm going to take her outside and walk her home," Lucas said as he pulled her away.

He pulled her away from a shocked Missy, while Zay looked grateful for Lucas leaving him alone with the girl he wanted. Riley could hear Zay telling Missy about them going to have fun as Lucas pulled Riley towards the front of the mall. They walked around the mall towards where the vending machines but Riley couldn't help but slow her steps the closer they got. She didn't know what to think when it came to Lucas or why he wanted to hang around her so much.

"I'm one of the good guys so don't be afraid. I don't know why you act so scared every time we're together," he said as he pulled a soda from the vending machine and started drinking. Riley kept staring she didn't understand why but she couldn't help it. "If you want some soda you can have some, it's not like we haven't kissed before."

Riley jumped back at his words, shaking her head as she walked back before her back was pinned against the machine. She didn't want to kiss him at all she just wanted to know why he was always around. His laugh pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I love to tease you Riles, your face always turns red when I do," he continued to laugh. "Even when I kissed you, you acted so shocked but you had the cutest look on your fac."

That was the second time he called her cute that she knew about but she couldn't figure out what the emotions stirring inside of her meant. Why was he calling her cute? Was he lying to her? He did say that he liked to tease her but why her of all people? Wasn't Missy more his type?

"Oh have you seen this book?" he asked pulling out a big book from his backpack. "I thought you might like it so I brought it with me today."

Riley looked at the book only realizing that it was from her favorite author, "How did you know I liked him?" she asked as she looked at the cover.

"I saw you reading one of his books remember, the one that you dropped and I gave back to you. I thought this one might interest you."

The book was a narrative but the cover was of a couple it took her a moment to realize what they were doing, "Oh my god, what is this book about?" she said almost dropping it on the ground.

"It's a narrative of couples from around the world and the way people meet," he said laughing at her. "It's called Love, although it was only published in a limited run so that maybe way you've never seen it."

"You don't have to laugh you know," she said feeling her face burn.

"You can borrow the book and give it back when you finish, we can talk about it if you want," he said smiling his thousand-watt smile. "I noticed how you took notes

Riley couldn't help but smile back, he had noticed something that no one not even Missy had noticed the entire time she had been at that school.

"Are you crying?" he asked. "Riley why are you crying?"

"Because… because you call me cute and you kiss me, and you notice what I'm reading and who my favorite writer is, and you steal my first kiss but all you do is tease me like we're in grade school and I don't know how much I can take anymore," she said trying to turn away from him. "You stole my first kiss, and I feel like an idiot whenever I'm with you but you make fun of me one second and the next you're calling me cute. I don't like feeling like this it's confusing me."

He stood there looking at her cry trying to pull her close to him, "Do you like me?" he asked but she tried to pull away from him she didn't like feeling as though she was losing control of herself.

"Just forget it," she said trying to walk away from him but he pulled her back.

"I didn't mean to tease you all the time, it's just I want to see the expressions on your face each time. It's almost like your mind is going a mile a minute trying to figure out what to say or do almost as though you have been hiding everything for everyone. I meant it when I called you cute because you are, you're a klutz at times but you find books fascinating, you smile when no one notices. You hide behind those glasses thinking no one notices you, but… well what I'm trying to say is that I noticed," he finished and let go the sudden release made her jerk forward losing her balance. Her glasses fell to the ground and shattered in front of her.

She dropped down to pick them up at the same time he did, their faces were so close she could see his lips next to her. He handed her the glasses and pulled her up, all of a sudden she heard Missy's voice around the corner. Instead of confronting her Lucas pulled her to the side to hide from Missy. He pulled her close and put his arms around her, she could feel his heart beating in his chest, it was going a mile a minute just like hers it felt like all of the emotions she had been feeling he has been as well.

"She's gone," he said as he pulled away. He stepped back for a minute before pulling her close again and hugging her. "I have to go but I want to see you again." He walked away from her and smiled. "See you later."

Riley felt embarrassed thinking about the things she and thought about what he said to her, did he really like her. Just teasing her like they were in grade school but hiding the fact that he knew her better than anyone had before. As she tried to walk away she noticed something on the floor, a black wallet.

"Did he drop this?" she said to herself picking it up. She opened it to see his school id and his driver's license inside. Inside one of the pockets were a set of keys, she knew that he would need them to go home but didn't know how to get them to him. Then she remembered his phone number on the back of the picture he had taken of her. She sighed and pulled it out of her notebook next to every word she had written and doodled about him during class earlier that day. He was taking over her mind and she couldn't stop it. She paced back and forth for a few minutes before she got the nerve to call him. He didn't pick up right away so she decided to keep walking in hopes that by the time she reached the dorm he would call her. Not too long after she left the mall she got a text from him with an address.

Twenty minutes later Riley was standing in front of a veterinary hospital that was filled with people, she sent a quick text to Lucas saying she was there and that she was just going to leave the wallet at the front desk and go home but he told her to wait. She walked inside and everyone looked up at her, dogs, cats, and all kinds of other animals waiting to be seen by the doctor. She walked to the desk looking for the receptionist but no one was there.

"Um… Hello?" Lucas came out from the back rushing towards her.

"Riley," he said. "Thank you, you're a life saver, I thought I lost it on the bus when I was coming here. I need my keys to get home and without them I'm locked out."

"Why isn't there a receptionist here? You are clearly busy," she said looking around.

"She went on maternity leave and we never hired a temp, we're open later than usual because we know people work so we stay open until nine. We couldn't close early just because we didn't have anyone."

"I can help, I love animals," she smiled at him.

"Really, okay and I need to treat you to something since you brought my wallet all the way here," he said to her. "Okay, so everything is computerized all of the patients have files in there and in the cabinet for the doc but we carry tablets so that the animals wouldn't chew on the papers. Anyone who comes in has to sign in and if they have an appointment log it into the system that they're here," he looked up at her and smiled. "Am I going too fast?"

"No I pick things up pretty quickly," she said as she sat down.

"Oh okay, well I'll come out each time we're done in the back and you can tell me whose next," he stepped away for a moment and came back with a pink lab coat. "Wear this over your uniform so that you don't get animal hair all over."

"Thanks," she put on the lab coat and buttoned it up. "Okay, I'll get to work."

He smiled at her before walking away, which made the butterflies in her stomach act up, she sighed and started working. The system was easy to understand and get the hang so it didn't take too long before she was helping bring the animals and their owners to the back. By the time nine o'clock came around she was exhausted but she was happy that she had helped out. She stretched out as Lucas came out from the back with his backpack as he said goodnight to the doctor.

"Hey Riley," the doctor said. "If you don't mind, my regular nighttime receptionist is going to be out for the next month can you fill in for her after school? You'll be paid for your work starting today if you want the job."

She smiled at the doctor and nodded, "I would love too, but you might have problems with my school they're against jobs."

"I could talk to them and tell them it's volunteer work, I would still pay you," he told her. Riley nodded and gave him the information for the school before Lucas walked her out of the building.

"He's a nice man," she said as they walked down to the nearby McDonalds.

"Yes he is, he's training me as a vet, I've always wanted to be one and I wanted to get a head start so I begged him to help me two years ago and I've been working there every day after school ever since," he said smiling at her.

"So you know what you want to do with your life," she said thinking about how she didn't know what she wanted from her life.

"Yeah I love animals and my grandfather has a ranch in Texas that I used to hang out at every day before we moved up here," When they reached the counter he turned to her. "Get whatever you want to eat."

She nodded and ordered a Big Mac meal with barbeque sauce on the side because she wanted to add fries to her burger and top it off with a little bit of barbeque. Lucas got a couple of burgers and shakes for both of them. The two of them started talking about the job and what it is that they do there.

"Oh I forgot to ask, do you write? Or take pictures since you like those travel narrative books by Scott Michaels," he asked her which surprised her as much as him knowing who her favorite author is.

"I love to write, it's mostly just drabbles but I want to write things that move people's hearts. I also like to take pictures of things that would give me inspiration but my parents tell me that it's not a path to a career so I'm trying to get a degree in business when I graduate high school because it would make them proud," she said although she had never admitted to anyone that she didn't want to do what they wanted of her but since they paid for everything she didn't want to disappoint her parents.

"I wish I could take pictures as well as Scott Michaels then maybe you could model for me," he smiled at her as he said it but Riley could only think that he would want to take nude pictures of her. "You would make a beautiful model."

"No you dirty old man," she said.

"Seriously the first thing you think about is that I'm going to take dirty pictures of you, get your head out of the gutter Riley," he snickered. "Seriously you have a dirty mind if that was the first thing that came to your mind."

"No I don't it's just that you… well you know how to get under my skin."

As they finished their dinner Lucas decided to walk her back to her dorm since it was so late. The dorms had an eleven o'clock curfew because some of the students liked to study late in the nearby cafés. When they reached the front of the dorm Riley was about to say good night when he pulled her forward and kissed her on her forehead.

"I had a good time today, don't hesitate to call me," he smiled as he started to walk away. "Goodnight Princess."

Riley watched him walk away as she stood there, her heart skipped a beat when he kissed her and it made her uneasy. Her life had changed so much in a short amount of time. As she got ready for bed she thought about the day, she hadn't realized how much she liked talking to him. But it felt weird every time he kissed her, like her heart was trying to jump out of her chest. She kept trying to figure out if she should text him to ask if he got home alright but stopped herself, why was she worried about him? Then she remembered that her glasses had shattered on the ground earlier in the day. She didn't really need them and they had become a hassle recently, she forgot why she wore them in the first place. As she sat in her bed for the rest of the night she kept thinking about Lucas and his kisses. When she finally fell asleep it was late, she still couldn't figure out her feelings, did she really like him or was it just a whim on his end. Was it love?

* * *

"Riley lend me your notes," Missy screamed in her ear the next day. "That crazy teacher is going to call on me today because of that stupid chart and I don't want to get in trouble."

Riley couldn't help but be annoyed my Missy, she never took notes she only took Riley's because they were "friends" as Missy would say. She was nothing but a bully and Riley knew it but she didn't know what to do because Missy was always around lately.

"Where are your glasses?" Missy asked.

"They broke when I left the mall yesterday," she sighed trying to hide the fact that they had actually broken when Lucas was hiding them from Missy.

"About that, what happened with Lucas after you guys left. I mean I thought you would come back but neither one of you came back at all."

"Nothing happened Lucas went to work and I went home."

"Oh that's right that kid Zay told me that Lucas works like crazy and he gets good grades and all. He told me that Lucas is one of the hardest working people he has ever known. He's so cool it makes me want him more," Missy swooned every time she praised Lucas. "You'll support us when we get together right? Hell you'll help us get together?"

"Hey Missy for crying out loud are you copying off of Riley again," their classmate Darby said walking towards them.

"We're friends so it shouldn't be a problem, she's always helping me out and she's always there for me."

'More like you make me do it without thinking about what I want,' Riley thought but instead she got up and walked out of the classroom. She couldn't hear Missy anymore, the girl was giving her a headache. How could they be friends when Missy hadn't done one friendly thing for her in the entirety of their relationship. Maybe she shouldn't talk to Lucas anymore since Missy was set on making him her boyfriend. If Missy had seen them together she would probably make her life a living hell.

"But what about what I want?" Riley asked herself. She now had a job at the clinic Lucas worked at and there was no way she would be able to back out after saying yes last night. "Why is life so confusing."

Riley heard a car pull up near the bridge as she walked back towards the building, it took her a moment to notice Maya in the car with a guy in a suit and they were kissing. Riley couldn't help but try to hide her face as Maya walked out of the car.

"The tables have turned. I guess it was going to happen eventually," Maya said not surprised that Riley had seen her. "Why do you look surprised," Maya said as she walked up to where Riley was.

"A teacher could see you and that guy looked like he was way older than anyone who goes to school around here," Riley said.

"He's not that old he's nineteen, I'm sixteen so who cares about three years. Plus, he works at an office during the day and goes to school at night. It shouldn't bother anyone anyway we're only dating it's normal," Maya said as she turned to look at the street below. "You're probably just thinking about your relationship with that guy, well your non-existent relationship."

"Wait… what?" Riley stuttered. "How do you know about that?"

Maya laughed at her, "Don't worry too much, you can date all you want while you're young. If they love you and think that you're the most precious thing in the world that fine, it could be a fling for all you care but it doesn't change who I am. I don't care what anyone says it's my life."

"I wish I had that much confidence in myself," Riley sighed.

"No you don't, listen everyone is different for a reason so don't compare yourself to others," Maya started walking away before she turned around and looked at Riley. "Don't tell anybody about what you saw, as much as I like to mess with people I don't want anyone to know my personal business."

"Don't worry I won't, it's not my place," she said.

"And if you like that guy, don't let Missy get in the way. That girl goes through guys like they're candy and then dumps them when she's had enough of them. He probably likes you more than she would ever like him."

Riley's phone was ringing while she was gone, she hadn't thought to take it with her when she walked out, but that didn't stop Missy from reading the message on the phone just before Riley returned.

"Missy that's Riley's phone," Darby said. "It's not right for you to look at it."

"But the message light is annoying, anyway that girl never gets messages so I'm curious," Missy said flipping the phone over.

"It's from a guy," Darby said looking over Missy's shoulder.

"You're lying, it can't be… Well I need to know who it is," Missy said as she clicked on the phone to check the message. The message was from Lucas asking Riley to hang out with him on Saturday, but Riley would never get the message as Missy sent a quick 'Ok' to Lucas before deleting the message. "Bitch," Missy said as she put the phone back in Riley's desk.

Riley and Maya walked into the classroom just before the teacher walked in as everyone else went back to their seats.

* * *

"Sorry," Missy said as she walked up to Lucas at a nearby café. "Riley isn't coming today, she asked me to come in her place. She's always such a ditz she does this all the time and always tells me to go in her place."

Lucas looked at Missy not wanting to say anything as he listened to Missy prattle on and on, he knew something weird was happening.

"She's not even into you and she told me that she didn't want to see you at all. I wasn't going to come but I'm her only friend and I thought I should tell you this because it's really harsh on her part but you needed to know the truth. You needed to know, and of course there's a thousand girls out there that are better than Riley."

"I can call her and ask her right now," Lucas said when he had enough of Missy's lies. He knew Riley wasn't that kind of girl at all.

"What?" Missy squawked.

"Missy I'm sorry but I don't believe the bullshit that's coming out of your mouth. Even if you were telling the truth Riley isn't the kind of person to send her supposed friend in her place she would confront me in person," he said before walking away.

* * *

Riley was running in from the rain towards her locker when she noticed that the outside of her locker had a black stain on it. The words traitor was painted in black. Riley looked around as the girls started talking about the locker but Riley only saw Missy as she smirked and walked away. Riley knew at that moment that Missy had been the one to put it on her and the only reason why would be Lucas. She had found out about her and Lucas talking, or how Riley had slowly started liking him even when she tried to push those feelings back. What can she do to her? What would she do to her? Riley was terrified because she knew that Missy was capable of a lot of things. The only thing she could think of doing was ending her relationship with Lucas as soon as possible.

That's how hours later Riley found herself at his doorstep with the book he had lent her, she hadn't been able to finish it but by giving it back she didn't have a reason to see him at all. She was going to call the vet clinic the next day and tell them that the school declined to let her work there. It was a lie but it was the only thing she could think of. She had written Lucas a note saying thanks for the book before she walked away. She couldn't help but cry as she walked down the street, she liked him but with Missy it wouldn't be possible to continue a relationship with him.

"Hey look at the girl," some guy said pulling Riley out of her thoughts.

"Hey girlie come over here and hang out with us," another guy said. Riley tried to walk by them as fast as possible but one guy grabbed her and pulled her towards them. "Come on don't be afraid, we won't bite."

"Not unless you like that kind of stuff."

Riley couldn't help but close her eyes as she tried to fight her way out of their grip when someone came over and punched the guys.

"Leave her alone," she heard the voice said. When she looked up she saw Lucas pulling both guys away from her. "Get lost," he growled.

"We were only trying to make friends with her no need to get all defensive," one of the guys said, but rushed his friend off when he saw the look on Lucas's face.

"Riley why are you around here when it's so late?" he asked her once the guys were gone.

"I was just bringing back the book you lent me," she said in a quiet voice.

"You should have called I would have picked it up from you, this neighborhood isn't the best one to be around at night."

"Sorry…"

"It's okay, do you want to come upstairs," he said as he took in her appearance. "I can make some coffee for you. It's cold out and you're just wearing that."

"Um… sure," she said as they walked back towards his place. She had decided on not seeing him again and yet here she was going to his place. She wanted to talk to him, she liked talking to him but she didn't want to tell him about what Missy was doing to her. She was afraid.

As Lucas went to make the coffee Riley noticed a bunch of pictures on the floor. All of them were landscapes but they looked like paintings. Why hadn't she noticed them the last time she had been there. It was probably because she had woken up in a strangle place with a guy near her.

"My brother took those," Lucas said as he placed the coffee on the nearby table. "He loved to travel and every time I liked one he would send it to me but I didn't have a place to put them so I just laid them out here.

"They're beautiful," she sighed looking at one of a field of flowers with the stars over them.

"Yeah, I always followed my brother around, he took the pictures and I looked at the animals nearby. I wanted to be a vet and he knew all of these places where there would be animals while he took pictures. I loved my brother," he said his voice heavy as he said it.

Riley couldn't help but notice the sound of his voice changing and how he said that he loved his brother. It made her heart heavy, "What happened to him?"

"He was taking pictures, we were out and well he fell off a cliff trying to save me."

"I'm sorry," she said trying not to cry.

"It happened four years ago, I miss him but knowing him he would want me to follow my dreams because he would live on knowing that I did my best."

They sat there for a few minutes as they tried to let the moment pass, Riley didn't know what to say to him.

"So did you get any of the text messages I sent you?" he asked.

"What message?" she said. "I didn't get anything."

"I figured, you aren't that kind of person."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it, just know that I have faith in you," he said as he placed his hand on her head. She looked at him confused. "Anyway you want to see all of the pictures I took of you the other day?"

'What?" she looked up as he took out a set of polaroid's. "What? Give me those," she said jumping on top of him and yanking the pictures from his hands only to trip and fall backwards, taking him with her. Their faces were so close they could have kissed. Riley's face burned as her embarrassment rose.

"You're cute without your glasses," he said making her blush even more.

"Um…" she signed knowing that she would have to admit her feelings. "Thanks," she whispered. "Well I should go home but I want to ask you something."

'Sure what do you want?"

"Can I have that picture," she said pointing at the one of the field with the stars above.

He laughed as he looked at it. "That was taken the first time my brother taught me how to take a picture at night.

Riley thought it was perfect because it would mean she would have a piece of him near her even when she pulled away.

"I'll mount it for you and bring it to you next time I see you," he said.

"Really! I would like that," she smiled at him.

"Riley would you go out on a date with me?"

She looked at him not knowing what she should say but before she could say anything he said, "I thought about you a lot, and how it's so easy to talk to each other. I really like you."

"Um," she stuttered. She wanted to say yes at that moment, she wanted to know where this would go but her phone went off breaking her out of her thoughts.

'Traitor Bitch' was written as a message. Missy was starting to chip away at her self-confidence, each time she got close to Lucas she wanted to know him more and more, but now Missy had put herself in the middle of Riley's feelings and she didn't know what to do.


	4. Chapter 4 – Confessions

Chapter 4 – Confessions

Riley stood there in shock, she didn't know what to do with the message but she knew that if she stayed close to Lucas everything would fall apart. She decided that she could like him from afar and just let Missy have him.

"I don't like you like that," she said before walking out of his apartment. Riley waited until she was far enough away to start crying. She was happy that he had told her that he wanted to go out with her. She felt so average most of the time that just the sound of his voice so close to her made her happy, but in the end she was giving into Missy's words because if she didn't she wouldn't be able to deal with the outcome.

The next morning at school she sat down at her desk trying to get herself together, she hadn't been able to sleep at all because all she could see was Lucas's face heartbroken because of what she had said.

"Hey Riley," Darby said as she and Sarah walked over to her. "Is it true that you stole Missy's guy?"

"Apparently I stole the guy she likes…" Riley said as the crushing weight in her heart pulled her down.

"That's not right Riley," Sarah said brushing her brown hair behind her shoulder.

"Riley what kind of person are you? I didn't think you were that type of girl," Darby said scolding her. Riley felt two inches tall while her classmates ganged up on her.

"You know that Missy likes him and you still talked to him," Sarah said as Jade another girl in their class walked over.

"No way is this real, it's always the quiet ones that you have to watch out for," Jade said.

"I thought we were friends," Missy said looking sad.

"Missy are you alright?" the girls said as they walked over to her.

Riley couldn't believe what Missy and the girls were saying, especially since they all think that the two of them were friends in the first place. They were never really friends and Riley knew that, the only time they were friends was when Missy needed something.

"Don't glare at me," Missy yelled. "It's horrible she's always quiet and she won't apologize over what was happening."

"Hurry up and apologize to her," Sarah said.

"Yeah apologize it's the least you can do for going after Missy's guy," Jade said. Riley wanted to scream but she just stayed quiet.

"You're a very disgusting person Riley," Missy said kicking her desk until it fell over causing Riley to jump back as her phone fell out of her lap. "Oh look her phone, I wonder what we should do with it?"

"We should delete everything on there," one of the girls said. Riley felt frozen so she didn't know who was talking anymore.

Missy walked over to the window and opened it, it had been raining all morning so the rain would sprinkle the side of the building. "Maybe we should just," she said dropping the phone out the window. Riley heard the phone crack, the classroom was on the third floor and it was raining of course it was going to shatter.

At the end of the day Riley stood by the bus stop on the way back to her dorm, she felt so stupid because she should have known that something like that would have happened. Everyone loved Missy she was one of the popular girls so of course everyone would blame Riley for what was happening. Riley knew that it was her fault in the first place because she knew that Missy had liked him and wouldn't react well if Riley had become close to Lucas. She had missed the shuttle bus because she didn't want to deal with the girls. Missy didn't live in the dorms because she lived nearby but all the other girls did and they all made it clear that they hadn't liked what Riley had done at all. As she walked inside she was glad to be out of the rain only to realize that Lucas was on the bus with her. Life was messing with her and she knew it. She didn't know what to do, but he was asleep she walked pass him as quickly as she could and sat down behind him. She didn't want him to see her, but she couldn't help but feel drawn to him somehow. His hair was wet as well as his school uniform. She started to worry that he would catch a cold if he stayed out in the rain long enough to become drenched. He looked tired, she was worried that he was doing too much.

"Oh my," she said as she realized that he was going to miss his stop. But she was worried that he would see her, she didn't know what to do.

"Why is Lucas sleeping like that? He got rejected why is he taking it so hard?" Riley knew that voice, it was his friend Zay.

"He's also working a lot too," said the other boy, she couldn't remember who he was but he looked familiar.

"It's weird because I didn't think he liked that kind of girl, I mean she was wearing glasses and she looked so plain, I always thought that he like those popular girls," Zay said. "It's not like she was a great girl, he could do way better."

"Really Zay? What kind of girl should he like? Don't measure your taste in girls with his taste in girls."

"Damn it Farkle what's wrong with liking Missy?"

"It's easy to understand your taste in girls…" Farkle said.

"Oh shut it Farkle."

The driver talked over the speakers announcing the next stop on the bus causing Riley to stop listening to Lucas's friends talking. She decided in that moment that she needed to get off the bus and got up to leave, but she remembered that Lucas was soaking wet and she didn't want him to get sick. She looked back at him before dropping her umbrella in his lap and walking away.

"Hey isn't that the girl?" Zay announced causing Lucas to wake up.

"Riley," he called out as she rushed out of the bus and away from the boy she liked.

When she reached the end of the block she turned and kept walking in the rain towards her dorm, just the sound of his voice calling her made her blush. She was happy because even after what she had said to him he would still call after her.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Maya said while Riley looked out over the roof of the school building. It was opened to students, since it was fenced in but most students preferred the courtyard while Riley liked the roof because the breeze made her feel like she was alive.

"It's nothing really," Riley said trying to hold in the pain of what was happening.

"You seemed depressed all day so it's not nothing."

"Well it looks like I'm not the only one feeling down since you don't normally come up here," Riley said looking down at the other students.

"Yeah I had a fight with my boyfriend just like you," she said.

"Maya I don't have a boyfriend, hell I chose to go to this school because I thought I would be happier not having to interact with boys, but in the end nothing really changes. I don't have real friends here, I'm going to be alone in the end… What the hell am I talking about, I guess some people just suck."

"You know what, why don't we go out and have some fun tonight," Maya said smiling at Riley. "I need to have some fun for once and forget about all of the downer stuff."

"What are you saying?" Riley blushed as Maya's face got closer to her own.

Maya laughed, "Riley you do get worked up just like any normal person.

Riley squeaked before saying, "Is it alright for you to go out? I mean you have a boyfriend."

"Riles I'm still a teenager, I'm allowed to go out my boyfriend doesn't dictate my life. Anyway I'll lend you some clothes. I live nearby so it will be okay."

Riley hadn't said anything but somehow she ended up agreeing to going out with Maya after school to some club that she knew about. It was a frequent hang out for the students in the area even though they served alcohol. Riley decided that it would be a good distraction from thinking about Lucas and the other annoying things in her life. What she hadn't been prepared for was the outfit that Maya had put her in, she wasn't used to wearing heels or extremely short black dresses. She felt exposed even though she had clothes on, it felt strange.

Not far from where she stood everyone was talking but one person in particular was complaining about their own lives.

Zay leaned over on his friend with a beer in his hand complaining about everyone surrounding them. "Ugh there aren't any cuties here," he said.

What you haven't made Missy your girl yet?" Farkle mocked him looking bored with the crowd.

"Dude she won't even call me, and I pretty sure she hates me too."

"This is all a waste of time, why am I head I could have done my advanced chem homework."

"Forget that help me, I'm sad man, why don't you call Lucas to come and comfort us," Zay said before he started hearing the commotion around them. Everyone was talking about a girl who had just walked inside.

"Where is everyone looking?" Zay asked but Farkle only pointed while looking at his phone as he texted Lucas. When Zay saw her he took a deep breath, "Wow it maybe dark in here but that hottie is totally my type."

Riley took a deep breath trying to get herself together, she kept looking down at the strapless dress wondering if it was too revealing. She felt like all the eyes in the room were on her and it made her face flush.

"Do I look strange?" she asked Maya.

"What are talking about? Riles you look hot so stop freaking out about it, hell you look better than I thought you would."

"But Maya my legs are shaking and I can't even walk right, my feet are killing me. I usually just like wearing sweats and a t-shirt at time," she said trying to let her legs tremble too much.

"You need some lipstick but the ones I wear are too dark," she said grabbing Riley's bag.

"Maya I only wear chapstick," Riley said trying to look through her bag.

"Oh you have tinted lip gloss this would work, and the color looks good for your skin tone," Maya said as she leaned into the put it on Riley's face.

"Wait a sec," Riley said as Maya held her face still as she applied the lip gloss, all Riley could think about was Lucas because he was the one who had given it to her.

"Excuse me," someone said from behind her. "Since there's only the two of you and it's just me and my friend why don't you join us."

Riley turned around to see who was talking to her but the guy started screaming, when Riley realized who it was she couldn't believe it.

"How could it be you, aren't you that girl who wore glasses the only that…" Zay was blushing while looking at Riley in the little black dress.

Riley didn't know what to do so she just ran off in the opposite direction, she couldn't understand why it was that Zay was there in the club. She didn't know if Lucas was there too and she didn't want to see him because she didn't know how long she could keep up the pretense that she didn't like him. She bumped into a group of guys while she was running away.

"Sorry," she murmured as she tried to walk away but the guy pulled her closer.

"You don't have to leave," he said to her. "Come on guys lets drink."

"I'm sorry I was just leaving," she tried to pull away. She didn't want Lucas to see her there she didn't want him to see her dressed like that. But a little voice in her head was telling her that that was the whole point of her going out, to forget about Lucas and her feelings.

"Come on girlie just one drink," he said.

Riley thought about it and realized that it didn't matter, she didn't have to worry about anything anymore, she didn't have to worry about Lucas at all. She took the drink the guy had given her and put it to her lips and closed her eyes to down it like she had the first day she had gone out with Lucas.

Someone grabbed the glass from her hand and pulled it away, "She doesn't drink, she can't hold it," Lucas said shocking Riley. "Riley why are you acting like this, this isn't you," he said to her.

Riley's first reaction was to just runaway as fast as she could but the minute she left the club she realized that her feet were hurting her, she didn't stop and kept going but as she reached the corner she missed the step off onto the crosswalk and twisted her ankle, falling to the floor dropping her purse letting everything fall out. The lip gloss fell out of the bag and rolled away. When Riley tried to grab it to pull it back into her bag she realized that Lucas was right behind her.

He looked at the lip gloss shocked, "Riley that's the lip gloss you're wearing right now, why are you wearing it here. What are you trying to say to me?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the one you gave me," she said trying to hide her face. She was about to tell him that she didn't like him, but he picked her up off of the floor until they were face to face. "Lucas…"

"Just be quiet, I know you hurt your foot right?" he said to her as she blushed at the closeness of his face. "Listen to me right now, or I'll kiss you until you do," she stayed quiet. "There's something I want to know, so I'm not going to let you go until you answer my question."

Riley didn't know what to do, he was so close to her that her heart was trying to break out of her chest with how hard it was pounding. "The truth," she murmured.

"Yes the truth, I want to know your feelings for me because honestly I can't figure you out."

"What are you saying Lucas, I already told you what my feelings are," she said looking down at her dress.

"Please don't look away from me," he said to her. Her feelings were tied to all of the small moments they had shared in the short time they had known one another, his face being so close she couldn't figure out what to do or say. Instead she put her arms around him and pulled him close for a hug inhaling his scent as she did. As soon as he let his guard down she dropped her legs to the floor and ran away. Maya called after her but she kept running even though the shoes were hurting her feet. She couldn't face him right then and there.

She cried all the way back to her dorm, sneaking onto her first floor bedroom and shutting the door. She slid down to the floor and just kept on crying because the boy she liked had been so close and all she could do was break his heart again. She wanted to tell him that she liked him, she wanted to call him and tell him everything, but she couldn't. She felt so weak when it came to standing up for herself and following her heart.

"I like you Lucas," she said to her empty bedroom as she climbed into her bed and cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

The next day Riley had gotten to school just after the first bell, everyone had rushed off as she sluggishly walked to her lock to get her text book only to find a note saying, Slut, inside on top of her books. She didn't know what to do anymore, she didn't know how much she could handle, how much she could hold in before she broke apart. She stood outside her homeroom wondering if she could walk inside.

Inside the classroom Missy was trying to get the girls to help her with getting back at Riley for taking Lucas away.

"Hey let's shred her gym uniform," Missy told everyone with a smile on her face.

"Missy?" Darby looked over at her. "Isn't that going a little overboard?"

"No why should I be nice to the little bitch who took my man away, she needs to get what she deserves."

"Yeah but does it make you feel better doing those things to her?" Sarah questioned.

"What are you trying to say? This has nothing to do with you, it's about her paying for what she's done."

"Well if you have to do it Missy, why don't you just do it yourself," Maya said. "Or is it that you don't like the fact that Riley is getting more popular, not only in school but with the guys that hang out outside? Especially since I know for a fact that Lucas picked Riley not you," Maya looked straight into Missy's eyes as she said it before walking out of the room "I guess I'm right since you haven't said anything," she finished as the door closed.

"Maya," Riley said when she saw her in the hallway. The two of them walked to the vending machine as Maya grabbed a soda. "Thank you for sticking up for me."

"No worries, those rumors going around about you stealing away Lucas aren't true and if any of those girls actually went out and asked him they would know. Anyway I didn't like any of them anyway, they always sided with Missy even when she is obviously wrong."

"Yeah but you might get caught up in their games because you stuck up for me."

"Seriously I don't care, none of them really liked me anyway," Maya said as she flipped her blonde locks behind her shoulder. "Listen if you want to be happy be happy, don't let others get in the way of that happiness either, your efforts are wasted on people who would blindly follow someone without thinking for themselves."

"Maya," Riley smiled for the first time since everything started. "Thank you so much, for everything."

"Right," Maya sighed. "Did you tell Lucas the truth when you saw him yesterday?"

Riley stayed silent because she didn't want Maya to know how much she had messed up that meeting the night before.

"Stop holding back," Maya said as she walked back towards their class," Oh and Lucas gave me your umbrella, it's in my locker so get it before you leave today. I told him to just give it to you but he…"

Riley stopped listening to Maya as she realized that her relationship with Lucas was over, they wouldn't be able to see each other. He had given back the umbrella without handing it to her directly. He was probably pissed off at her. She felt sad because it was over. When lunch came around Riley didn't have the urge to eat, so instead she went to the roof to hide out since it was the one quiet place on campus. When she got there she hadn't noticed Missy standing in the middle of the roof.

"Hey," she said. "I was looking for you… um… I want to apologize for everything, I may have been a little impulsive especially when it comes to liking a boy. So sorry," Missy finished. Riley was shocked at what was happening in front of her. "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

She was lying, Riley knew she was, this couldn't have been happening. For Missy to actually apologize to her for anything was just shocking. She didn't know if she could believe it. Riley took a deep breath before she said anything trying to be the bigger person, but Missy pushed her to the ground and slammed the roof door just as it began to rain.

"Missy, open the door," Riley said banging on the glass.

"Really you thought I would say sorry? That I would stoop down to your level and act like you didn't do anything wrong especially when I told you I wanted Lucas for myself. God you're such an idiot," Missy said as she smiled on the other side of the door. "If you tell Lucas that you hate him I'll let you back into the school. Come on Riley how about it?"

Riley steeled herself for what she was about to do, "I feel so stupid, I really thought that you would change and actually do something nice for once instead of constantly copying my notes and my homework. But this is hilarious because I knew I should have done this a long time ago," she took a deep breath before she raised her fist to the door. "Missy you were never my friend, or anyone's friend unless it benefited you."

When Riley looked up she saw that the glass had shattered on the other side of the door, Lucas was standing above Missy with his fist in the window looking at her with nothing but distain.

"Why is Lucas here?" Riley said as she saw Maya standing in the background with her phone in her hand smiling at Riley.

"Missy, what you're doing has to stop, you can't treat a person like this just because you don't get what you want. Even if I had met you first I wouldn't have given you the time of day so just get out of my face and never come back," he said as he opened the door and walked out into the rain to stand face to face with Riley.

She didn't know what to do she never thought she would see him again even after everything that she had said and done to him.

"Lucas… why are you here?" Riley said looking at his face like he was an angel sent down from heaven to save her from the people tormenting her.

"Wow Missy really is a bitch," he said taking off his jacket. "She left you out here to get soaking wet."

"But why are you here?" she started crying because she didn't know what else she should do, as he showed her kindness. "Thank you…" she hiccuped. "Thank you for helping me," she cried.

He pulled her into a hug and held her there, "I don't know why you get in my head, I don't know why I can't forget you at all. All I can think about is how you smiled at me, how your lips feel against mine. You're inside of my head and I don't know how it happened even though you're always running away from me but the more you run the more I care about you. I know you want to forget me but I really like you Riley and I don't think I can stay away from you anymore."

Riley wanted to tell him that she liked him too but she was crying in his arms and she didn't want to let go. Once she stopped crying long enough she looked up to him and smiled with tears still in her eyes, "I really like you too."


	5. Chapter 5 – Together

Chapter 5 – Together

The rain didn't stop but Lucas was there to take her home after what had happened with Missy. Riley didn't like to skip classes but she didn't have any dry clothes so with his jacket over her shoulders they walked to her dorm, neither one of them talking. When they reached the dorm Riley stopped walking and just stared at the building she had called home for the last two years. She didn't know what to say to him all she could do was stand there.

"So you live here," he said looking at the dorm.

"Yeah… um," she stuttered while looking at him. "Here's your jacket… um I would wash it for you but… um," she didn't know why she was so nervous.

"Riley don't worry, it's already raining so it doesn't matter, so um… I'll call you later I guess," he said before he turned to walk away. She just stood there, she didn't want him to leave at all, they had just started being honest and if they stopped she didn't know what would happen.

"Lucas," she said out loud. "Um, do you want to come in and dry yourself off, I can get us something to drink?" her hands were shaking while she said it, she was nervous and she knew it but she didn't know why.

He turned around and smiled at her, "Sure Riley," he said before walking back towards her.

Riley looked inside to see if the dorm mother was at her desk, she made sure that none of the students brought people over that weren't supposed to be there. The woman wasn't at her desk which meant she was in the back watching her shows. Riley motioned Lucas to follow her inside walking slowly as they passed the office door before she grabbed his arm and started running towards her room. She was one of the only students who lived on the first floor, everyone usually got one of the upper dorms because it was easier to sneak in through the balconies, Riley's room had a balcony but it had a gate with a window opening that could only be unlocked from the inside, since she never uses it she left the key to open it from the outside in her drawer.

"So this is your room?" he asked looking around at the purple walls before walking towards the small couch she had in the corner. "This place is bigger than I expected."

Riley was only thinking about how he would think that she was trying to seduce him because she invited him into her personal space, she never had anyone over not even Missy who was her supposed friend. She didn't know what to say so she walked towards her closet and grabbed a fluffy white towel and gave it to him.

"I always thought dorms were small and everyone had to share a bathroom," he said but she didn't know how to respond. Instead she turned around and looked to see if she had left anything embarrassing on the floor of her room. Suddenly Lucas's arms were wrapped around her, she tried to push him off but he pulled her close and put the towel over her head.

"Sorry I just didn't want you to get sick," he said as he started to dry her hair.

"No I should say sorry… it's just that you're the first person that I've ever let in here and I didn't know what to do. Um… and to answer your question, most of the dorms here have their own bathroom, but everyone else usually has a roommate, the reason I don't have one is because most people don't get the first floor rooms, they don't like that it's so close to the advisors but since this is the quiet floor, I took it because no one bothers me down here," she said before she realized that she was babbling, as she turned around she noticed that he had taken off his shirt and she came face to face with a bare chested Lucas. "Why… why… why are you taking off your shirt?"

He started to take off his belt but stopped when she kept stuttering in front of him, "I'm kidding Riley, I just wanted my shirt to dry before I go home."

She threw the towel over his shoulders and turned around, her face was burning hot and she didn't know what to do.

"Hey did you take all of these pictures?" he asked pointing at her wall when she turned around.

She looked at her pride and joy, "Yeah, my Uncle Shawn got me a camera when I was younger, he was trying to get me out of this shy phase I was going through in an attempt to get me out of the house more… It didn't really work, instead of being at home I would go to the park or the zoo and take picture, when we went on trips I was always snapping photos and writing in my journal about my trips because I couldn't really make friends but after a while I stopped because my parents didn't like how closed off I was so I stopped taking pictures before I came here… I'm very insecure about certain things and I always worry about what others think about me so in the end I give up the things I love," she took a breath looking at some of her favorite prints on the wall. "I did the same thing with you, I pushed you away because I knew that if I tried anything the whole school would talk, or Missy would make my life a living hell, but even when I pushed you away she still made my life a living hell."

Riley stood there for a minute thinking about how she wished that she could change and become a different person that didn't give up so easily but this was the first time that she had something that she really wanted in her life.

"I wish you would keep taking pictures, these are beautiful," he sighed and pulled her towards him. "I want to get to know you better, I want to know everything about you because you're very special to me. So don't be afraid of telling me what you like and don't like, when you're uncomfortable, when you're happy," he said as he stepped closer to her. He looked up at the one photo that had people in it, but it was only their backs. She noticed that he was looking at it as close as he could. "Tell me about this picture, it's the only one with anyone in it."

"I took it right before I came to this school just before freshman year, it's my family, I realized that I caused my parents so much pain with how awkward I was and how I didn't have any friends so I took this before I left," she pointed at the little boy whose hands were being held by her parents. "That's my brother, he's the complete opposite of me, I think he's the kid my parents have always wanted."

"Don't say that, I'm sure your parents loved you Riley… I'm sorry that I brought up something so heavy," he said turning from her. "Maybe I should go home now."

"Why?" she said out loud, she realized that she didn't want him to leave.

"Riley I can tell that you feel uncomfortable with me here, you can't even look me in the eye," he said to her, each time trying to get closer.

"Well you're next to me shirtless and I don't really know what to do about it, I don't know how I should feel… this is the first time I'm doing this, it's the first time I've been openly acting on my feelings and I'm not used to it," she said looking down at her hands as her face began to heat up.

Lucas sighed next to her and she knew that he was looking at her but she couldn't bring herself to looking up at him. "Well… I know that this is all new to you… I mean ever since we met on the bus you have either pulled me away or held onto me and you have always been a little awkward but we can take it slow, I don't want to scare you away."

"Sorry about this," she whispered but instead of saying anything she pulled her into his arms and stayed there for a few minutes, her heart trying to jump out of her chest while she was standing in front of Lucas's naked chest.

"Well," Lucas said trying to change the subject. "Can I kiss you?"

Riley pulled herself away from him and said "No."

"Why Riley"

"Well it's embarrassing," she said.

Lucas laughed at her only making her more embarrassed until she heard footsteps outside her door, she realized that the dorm mother could have heard them, Riley pushed him into the closet just in case she knocked on the door.

"Riley," Lucas said as she shut the door with the both of them inside of her closet. For a few minutes they listened wondering if they had gotten caught but when no one knocked on her door she sighed with relief. Lucas pulled her close and for the first time since they first met his lips were on hers, unlike the last time she where he caught her by surprise she let herself feel his lips against hers. The softness of the kiss made her want to stay there in that moment, the smell of Lucas cologne and the feel of his body. When he pulled away she missed the closeness of him but knew that if they were caught they would both be in trouble.

"I should probably go," he said as he slowly opened the door. "I'll see you tomorrow though because I really would like for the two of us to get to know each other better."

"Well I guess I should also get ready to work at the clinic with you starting next week," she said to him not wanting to be away from him now that they were together.

He smiled at her, "I'm happy that you're going to work there, but can you do me a favor?" he asked as he slowly pulled his shirt on.

"Yeah, anything," she smiled at him.

"Start taking pictures again, you obviously love it so you shouldn't let what others think stop you from doing what you love."

She felt herself blush but looked him in the eye, "Maybe one day I'll show you the stories that go with some of those pictures," she said knowing that when that day came he would truly be a part of her heart.

"That would be nice," he smiled at her. "And Riley," he said as he opened the back door of her room. "Maya is a really good friend, thank her for me."

"Why are you saying that?"

"Because it was Maya who called me to tell me what was happening with Missy, and she's always looking out for you even when you don't know it… Isn't it nice that you have a really good friend now, not those girls who stood against you for something that they had no control over, who took advantage of your good nature."

Riley didn't know what to say because she hadn't known that Maya had called him, or that she had been paying attention to everything that was happening. They had only talked about their problems in passing but know she knew that Maya had really listened and paid attention to what was happening around her.

"Also remember that no matter what happens I'll be there for you," he smiled as he walked out of her dorm. She waved at him thinking about what he had said about Maya, and as soon as he was out of sight the thought of the kiss they had just shared lingered on her lips. She had two things to be happy about.

Riley wasn't the only one who was thinking about the kiss, as Lucas walked home he thought about the way they fit in each other's arms and how she felt so perfect to him. He had never thought that he would ever feel that way when he was so young. Yet Riley was the one person he continued to fight for not knowing why.

"Lucas," a voice said as he got home. "You're back."


	6. Chapter 6 – Family

Chapter 6 – Family

"Alison…" Lucas looked at the blonde in front of him shocked that she was there.

"Hi Lucas," she said smiling at him. "It's been a while hasn't it. I wanted to see you since we haven't talked in a while so that's why I'm here."

Lucas sighed, "Did my mom send you?" He turned towards his door and opened it. "I don't want to deal with this."

"Lucas you have to come back home," she said trying to get a hold of him but he brushed her off.

"Don't talk to me, I can't go back there," he said before slamming his door.

Lucas waiting until he knew that Alison had left before he let himself drop down to the floor and cry. It had been a long day but because he was with Riley he knew that it was worth it but now the confrontation with Alison had taken away all of his fighting power. He didn't want to deal with his family after everything that had happened, he only wanted to be happy with what he had at that moment.

* * *

Riley sat in the cafeteria with Maya thinking about Lucas and how they had gotten away with him being in her room the day before. She really couldn't believe that she had done something like that even if they were only kissing one another, but for her that was something new.

"You're thinking about him aren't you?" Maya asked breaking Riley away from her thoughts.

"Yeah," she sighed. "He took me back to my dorm yesterday and we talked and he kissed me," she felt her face flush at the reminder of Lucas in her room with his arms around her.

"You guys did it didn't you?" Maya said straight faced.

"No," Riley yelled standing up in front of everyone in the cafeteria. She said down again hoping that she hadn't attracted attention. "We didn't do anything but kiss, anyway we just started dating why would we already start… you know…"

"Yeah but it will happen eventually, because you both really like each other. It's only a matter of time until it happens."

"Yeah… maybe one day," Riley sighed at the thought of their relationship going so fast. Between the job, Lucas, and now having friends she felt blessed but also overwhelmed because she's never had to rely on others.

"So, since tomorrow is Saturday that means you're going on a date aren't you," Maya said smiling at her.

"Yeah, we decided to go to the movies and hang out," Riley smiled at the thought of going on her first real date. She wondered that if her parents knew that she was branching out would they be proud of her.

"Here take this just in case," Maya said as she dug through her pocket. "A girl should always be prepared."

In front of her was a gold packet and it took Riley a minute before she realized that Maya was giving her a condom. Her face flushed and she could feel her ears burn but she couldn't take the packet from Maya at all.

"Riley take it," Maya said. "Come on hurry up and take it before someone sees."

Riley felt her whole world tilt but Maya put the packet in her hand and smiled. She understood what Maya was doing for her but for Riley dating was something new, she didn't know what to do and sex at this point wasn't an option because she wanted to take it one step at a time. She didn't even know what people did on dates, would they go to a sporting event, did she wear sporty kind of clothing. She didn't have anything girly with her because she hadn't thought to bring anything like that when she had moved to the school. She had been scared when it came to dealing with people so she didn't think that she would ever get to the point where she had friends or a boyfriend.

"Maya," Riley said when she was done with her internal freak out. "Tell me about your boyfriend, do you like him? Is he nice? What do you guys do together?"

"Well, I met him when I was fourteen, he was nice to me and would always talk about his family, I was a freshman here, and he was a junior at a nearby school. It was really weird because I usually self destructed when it came to relationships. I always thought that he was going to leave me, because I thought everyone would leave me eventually. My dad did, my mom is pretty non-existent lately, she got remarried and started a whole new family without me. Neither one of them look back and think that they want me in their lives… I'm talking too much," she sighed but Riley shook her head.

"It's good to hear everyone else's stories, I've kept myself closed off for so long I never thought that anyone would open up to me. Now I know I have a friend."

"Anyway, at first I was only dating him to see if my parents would notice because he used to ride a motorcycle, but eventually we both really started to like each other. Without him I don't know where I would be, probably lost somewhere with a needle in my hand like my dad, or ignoring everything like my mom. He taught me to love and I'm grateful for that, yeah I joke about it when I go out to a club or something but I usually call him at some point and he comes over and dances with me."

"That's sweet, I would like to meet him one day," Riley said smiling at her friend.

"Maybe we could double date or something, but after you get to know your boy a little better."

"Okay," she smiled at the thought of doing normal teenager things. They spent the rest of their lunch talking about their classes and summer break, even though the school let the students out for those two months Riley never went home and usually helped out in the office, now she was going to be working with Lucas all summer and that made her happy.

The next day she woke up early and got dressed in a simple outfit, just her favorite jeans and a t-shirt with small hearts on it and her favorite converse. She didn't have anything to wear for a date and she knew that next to Lucas who looked like a male model she was simply plain. When she walked to their meeting place and saw him on the corner she marveled at how he looked so cool and all he wore was a simple blue shirt and jeans. She watched him for a minute marveling at how she had gotten lucky.

"Riley," he said when he noticed her walking. She shuffled her feet trying not to feel like a weed in the face of the sun but it still felt weird.

"Hi," she said feeling herself blush.

"Hey," he smiled. "You look so weird without your uniform, I'm so used to seeing you in it."

"Sorry I didn't know what to wear and I don't have anything super girly," she said even though she loved dresses she didn't want to attract attention so she didn't buy them anymore.

"It's okay as long as you're comfortable."

"Yeah but I wish that I could have dressed up a little more… it is my first… um… it's my first date so it should be special right."

Lucas looked around and dragged her towards a nearby shop, "You want to look like a princess?" he smiled at her.

In front of the store there was a long yellow dress, it was so simple but to Riley it was the most beautiful dress in the world.

"Come on," he said pulling her into the shop. "I think you would look cute in that dress."

When they walked in Lucas pushed her towards the dressing room, grabbing the dress and handing it to her so that she could try it on. Before she could protest he closed the door and left her alone with the dress and her thoughts. Her heart pounded in her chest but she decided to humor him and put on the dress. When it was on she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled, even though it was a simple dress it fit her in the right places and flowed right down to her ankles. She took a deep breath and opened the door for Lucas who looked at her in awe, before he smiled at her.

"It looks really good on you," he said as he ran his fingers though his hair and looked down at his feet. "We should get it for you."

"No Lucas this is too much," she said trying to stop him.

"You don't have to wear it today, but I do want you to have it," he turned around to let her change back into her regular clothes.

She didn't know what to do with him, every minute they're together he does something that takes her breath away. She nods to herself but when she looks at the floor she notices the condom Maya had given her on the floor. She hadn't realized that it was in her bag but since the bag was on the floor it must have spilled out. She dropped herself down to the floor as fast as possible just so that she could cover it before Lucas noticed. She didn't want him to think that she was weird.

"Are you okay?" he asked turning around to see her on the floor. She nodded and quickly closed the door changing into her clothes. By the time she got out Lucas had already paid for the dress and the sales woman was putting it into a bag.

"Lucas I can't take that dress," she said but he only smiled.

"You can and you will, is it so bad that I want to pamper my girl?"

Riley stood there blushing at the sound of him calling her his girl, she never took anything she didn't need from anyone and always helped out but for the first time someone was doing something for her and she wanted to be selfish. As they walked out of the store Lucas tried to take her hand but the contact shocked her, as though a spark had run through their hands on contact. She stepped back for a moment only to realize that he had kept walking. She couldn't see him at all and it scared her but when she looked forward she saw his face looking for her.

"You're going to have to learn to let me hold your hand Riley," he said with a sigh. "It's what couples do."

She nodded and took his hand, the feel of his warmth spread through her and for some reason she wanted more, but she didn't know how to take it from him. But she was also overwhelmed by the amount of people outside shopping, she usually did everything through online stores so that she wouldn't be bothered with going outside but being close to Lucas was worth it.

"How about we go to the pizza place near my house, get some food and watch Netflix?" he said smiling at her. "I know you're uncomfortable out here and I can see that you're trying to be okay with it but you aren't."

"Sorry," she whispered. "I know it's a little weird being with me."

"Actually it's nice because I won't have to share you, and we can hang out at home eating pizza and talking. I really like talking to you," he said. Riley knew that he was blushing because his ears had turned red even though his face was still the same golden color he had always had.

When they got to his place he set everything down in front of his couch before asking her to sit, he quickly grabbed plates and napkins from the kitchen and sat down next to her. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Riley loved to watch his lips move, it was something she never thought would happen for her. Her parents had loved each other since they were children, but had been overprotective of her growing up that she had always been closed off from other kids. But Lucas brought out the side of her that wanted more, now she had him and she had slowly started making friends.

"You really have to stop staring at me like that," he said making her blush. "Riley is it okay if I kissed you?"

"Well that the first time you've asked usually you just do it and don't worry about what I think," she said looking at her fingers. "But yes you can," she wanted it. She wanted the warmth that he brought like the summer sun over her skin, like the smell of the woods after it rained. He was everything she could ever feel all wrapped up in one person.

He slowly moved closer to her, his green eyes looking at her brown as though they were going to drown in their depths. His pupils were expanding with each breath he took and she wanted more than to get lost in them and never look back. As if she weighted nothing he lifted her and set her on his lap before slowly placing a kiss on her lips. The touch was tentative but as she gave into her feelings for him he began to deepen the kiss slowly consuming her. She knew that every time they kissed it felt more intense but this time she didn't want to stop at all. He pulled away from her mouth and kissed her neck, she hadn't known how sensitive her body was to his touch but as his lips grazed his skin she felt all of her senses awaken. He rested his lips on her shoulder and slowly bit the skin making her gasp, he looked up at her and smiled before placing his lips on hers and kissing her again. The phone began to ring in the background but they ignored the call and continued to kiss but the answering machine picked up startling Riley back into reality.

"Hey Lucas, it's Zay," the voice came over but Riley couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he had an old school answering machine. "You weren't picking up your cell and I thought that I should call here… Dude you aren't out picking up chicks without me are you because that's against the bro code, oh and I borrowed that game you brought last week to play with Farkle but the guy keeps studying so come over, because I'm bored. Whatever man I'll come over in a few…."

Before he could finish Lucas grabbed the phone, "Zay so help me if you show up over here I will personally cut off your balls and feed them to you."

Riley heard Zay's voice on the other side complaining because Lucas hadn't picked up his phone, but he ignored his friend and slammed the phone down ending the call. Lucas sighed, she knew the moment was over but she couldn't help but laugh at Zay.

"Sorry Riley, that guy is always bothering me when I don't want to talk to him. I know he means well but sometimes he's just a little… annoying."

"It's okay, it's nice to have people around that would always make you happy. I've never had that, my whole life has been about pleasing my parents and doing what they want that I shut the world out completely because they were so overprotective. So it's nice to finally have something so normal in my life," she said looking down at her fingers.

"Come on I'll walk you back to the dorm," he said taking her hand. She didn't want to leave but she knew that she had to so she nodded at him. The street wasn't as packed as it had been earlier in the day, Lucas was holding the bag with the dress in it while his arm was around her shoulder. "Hey Riley," he said after they go to the front of the building.

"Yeah Lucas," she smiled.

"How about… um… let's take a trip this summer," he said looking down at his hands. "Just the two of us."

"Um… I don't know, I've never gone anywhere…um," she stopped talking and look up at him. "Sure why not," she said before she lost her nerve. He smiled at her and kissed her on the lips before she walked into the dorm, he walked away once she was safely inside.

Riley took the bag to her room but when she was inside she took out the dress, next to it was the picture that he had had in his room, a field of flowers under the stars. He framed it for her and she was so happy to have it with her. In a way it was a part of Lucas and now it was a part of her heart. She thought about the kisses that he had given her, and how he had become such a huge piece of her heart. He gave her strength that she hadn't known that she had before, and she was happy about it.

* * *

"It's a sex trip," Maya said to her when she told her about the trip.

"What?... No it's not, it's not that at all," Riley felt her heart hammering in her chest.

"Riles…. Honey…. When two people go away on a trip alone it's for sex. What else would it be for since there's nothing else to do? Let me guess you don't want to go?"

"I do… I was happy that he asked me… but… I'm a little nervous. Even if it is like that Maya, why would he want to see me like… um… My clothes, I don't have any good sense when it comes to any of that. What if my stomach makes a noise while we're kissing, or if I trip and fall, or even fall over the side of the bed?"

"Oh god, you're so innocent I don't know what to do with you," Maya said smiling at Riley. "Don't worry, once he sees you naked he wouldn't care about your underwear or your clothes," Riley blushed as her friend said that. "Oh look the bus, I wonder if he's on this one, let's go find out."

Maya dragged her onto the bus as Lucas and his friends stood towards the back, he looked over and smiled at her. "Hey princess," he said as he pulled her close. "I got a bunch of information on stuff for the trip. We can pick from a bunch of really nice places."

"Wait you're going on a trip without me," Zay said walking over. "Just the two of you…. No fair… Wait are you guys a thing now? Seriously, when did that happen?"

Maya pushed Zay to the side and looked up at Riley, "If you need help with telling people where you're going I can be your alibi."

"What the hell you brute," Zay said looking up from the floor.

"Oh shut it, I don't know you and I don't care but if you try and get in between these two you'll have to answer to me," Maya said giving Zay an icy cold stare.

After a minute Zay got up and looked at Maya in the eye before speaking, "My name is Isiah Babineaux, I'm 16 and I would like your phone number," he pulled out his phone and blushed in front of Maya.

"No," was all she said as the rest of them started laughing.

"Don't worry about him, he doesn't understand relationships. The guy falls for every girl he thinks is hot and doesn't care about other people's feelings. Anyway, I think we should go here," he said handing her a paper with a beach on it. She looked at him not knowing what to say. "I want to see you in a bathing suit… a two piece."

"No beaches," Riley said as she felt herself blush. "Let's go camping."

"Riley, stop freaking out so much, plus theirs someone I want you to meet here," he said his face getting serious for a second.

"Oh," she said, she wanted to ask who but she knew that he would tell her when they got there. "Okay we can go."

"I know you don't like the idea of it just being the two of us so what if we have our friends there with us?" he said looking at their friends.

"You mean Maya can come?"

"Yeah, I don't mind as long as we get to spend some time together."

"Hells no," Maya said. "I'll go if he goes," she pointed at Farkle who had been too engrossed in his book to notice what was happening around them.

The group started arguing around them, but Riley just smiled because she liked how lively they all were. When they reached her stop Lucas walked off with her so that she could get changed for work. Once she was done they walked towards the clinic holding hands and talking about the trip.

* * *

When she got home later that night she finished all of her homework and stared at the picture that Lucas had given her when her phone rang, as her mother's name flashed on the screen.

"Hi Mom," she said

"Hi sweetie," her mother sounded strained, but Riley knew it must have something to do with a case, her mother the lawyer. "Listen I got a call from some of your teachers, they're worried about you. They say you haven't been paying attention in class. Is something happening that we should know about? I don't want your grades to slip, you know it worries me when you're not working hard."

Riley's grades had stayed the same since she met Lucas and she knew it but her teachers knew who her mother was and reported every detail of her life fearing the woman's wrath.

"I also heard that you took on a volunteer job, and I know it would look good on your resume but you really should have consulted me before you took it. You know it's not safe to walk around there at night."

Riley wanted to scream, her parents had placed so many hopes and dreams on her, none of which were the ones that Riley wanted for herself but she knew that disappointing her parents was out of the question. She sighed thinking about what she should do but she also realized that Lucas had given her strength and maybe it was time to tell her family to back off and let her grow up a little bit.

"Mom," she said tentatively she didn't want to back away but she wanted to stand on her own two feet for once. "My grades haven't slipped have they? I'm at the top of my class, but for once I'm getting to know people, I have friends… and a boyfriend. I know you worry… um… but please let me be myself for once, I'm growing and I want to follow my own path."

"Riley honey do you even know what your path is? You're just a kid, and a boyfriend… Oh Riley your father isn't going to like this at all, one of the reasons he agreed to let you go to that school was because it was an all-girls school."

"Mom please stop," Riley said over the speaker. "For once in your life just listen to me, to what I want, I'm sixteen I have to grow up eventually, I've lived in this shadow for so long and for once I'm learning to get out of it and live my life. Not the one that you and dad want for me, I mean I do want to go to college but I want to go for what I want. Please…"

She could hear her mother breathing on the other side of the line and worry that she might have gone too far, instead her mother surprised her, "Okay, I'm not going to say anything to your father, but I'm trusting that you won't let your grades slip, and that you and your friends come and visit for a week during the summer. I need to meet them, including this boyfriend of yours. Those are my conditions."

"I'll talk to them about a visit," she said smiling because she was finally getting something that she wanted. The two of them talked while her mother worked in her home office, Riley asked about her father and her brother, about how everything was in their house, and about her aunts and uncles. They talked for a few hours and for the first time she realized that her mother was listening even with all of the work on her plate. When they hung up Riley yawned but smiled, her relationship with her mother was getting better and maybe one day she would be able to share her experiences with her mother, the good and the bad.

* * *

"Riley," Lucas said to her making her wake up. "You fell asleep on me, do you want to go eat something with me before we start working, or do you want to take a nap? You seem tired."

"Sorry I was on the phone all night with my mom," she said looking down at her skirt. "We talked about you, and Maya and all kinds of things, she actually listened to me instead of outright telling me what to do."

"That sounds nice," he said looking at her with a smile. "I know you've had trouble speaking up, so I'm glad that she heard you."

"Yeah… um she wants to meet you… and Maya."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah, she wanted to know who I was hanging out with," she looked at his eyes and saw something she didn't expect, happiness.

"I get to meet your family, this is something I hadn't thought about but I really want to go. Did you ask Maya?"

"Yeah she was okay with it and she asked her boyfriend to come and meet me too… I can't believe so much has changed and we've only known each other for like two months. I was thinking about showing my mom one of my journals… I want her to get to know me better, I'm going to bring her the most recent one but it's only half full, so I'm going to fill it up with our memories, from the clinic and our trip… do you think that she would like to read it?"

"Yes, I know I would love to see it too," he said taking her hand.

"When I'm done with it."

They grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to the office and worked for the next four hours, instead of going home right after they went to the nearby McDonalds to grab something to eat. Riley started on her homework as he grabbed their food. She felt so lucky to be with him, when he sat down she couldn't help but smile at him. He grinned back at her when a voice pulled him from his food.

"Lucas," a woman said. She was tall and blonde, but older than Lucas.

"Alison," he said looking up at her. "It's rare that you call me, especially after our conversation the last time we saw each other."

"Yeah but Riley has taught me that I should learn to talk to people and not just bottle everything up."

"Riley?" Alison said looking over to see Riley looking straight at her.

"My girlfriend," he said beaming at her.

"Aww this is so cute, I've never met one of your girlfriends, this is a first… Maybe I should take a picture to remember this moment because you will only get surly again."

"Very funny," he said but looked over at Riley. "Riley this is Alison, my brother's wife."

Riley looked at the woman so fast that she thought that she would get a serious case of whiplash. His sister in law, he mentioned that his brother had died to save him but he didn't say anything about him being married. She realized that there was a lot of things that she didn't know about him.

"Why are you two out this late?" Alison asked them.

"Oh we just got out of work," Lucas answered. "Riley volunteers at the Vets office that I work at, so we decided to get something to eat afterwards."

"Oh you two are already too cute for words," she smiled at them. "Do you have any plans for the summer?"

"Yeah Lucas and I are going on two trips with our friends," Riley smiled as the conversation became more relaxed. "My parents want to meet him so we're going to visit them, and we're going to the beach."

At the mention of the beach trip Riley noticed that Alison stiffened but she guarded her expression as quickly as she could. The conversation was tense afterwards, but she didn't pry when Lucas walked her home his face was as guarded as Alison's was, but he kissed her as if his life depended on it. She knew at that moment that something was about to happen, she just didn't know what it would happen.


	7. Chapter 7 – Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 7 – Everything Falls Apart

Riley thought back to the night before, their dinner with Alison was weird after the mention of their trip but Lucas still walked her home and kissed her. The thought of the kiss made her blush, lately every time they kissed it made her shiver, it started out with him slipping in his tongue, now he was holding her closer each and every time, it made her tingle afterwards and some days it kept her up at night. The thought of his arms around her made her heart speed up and her face heat up in embarrassment because it was still all new to her and she never thought that she would have that kind of relationship.

"How about a two piece," Maya said breaking her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Riley answered her looking at the flashy bathing suits that Maya held in front of her. "What… wait, no… I've never worn something like that."

One of the bikini's was a leopard print, the other was pink with hearts all over, they were both flashy and looked more like Maya's style than her own.

Maya sighed, "Riles you have to show a little skin," she said when she saw the one piece that Riley was holding.

"But… but…"

"Come on Riles, you can't expect to wow your man in that thing," she walked off picking up a black two piece with ruffles. "This one is cute and it's totally you."

Riley could feel her face flush with the thought of Lucas looking at her in a bathing suit let alone something that would show off so much skin. "It has strings Maya," she said trying not to embarrass herself. "And… and…"

"Come on Lucas will love it I guarantee it."

"Fine," she said relenting on the thought of wearing the two piece. She could always just wear something over it if she gets embarrassed.

"Good and it might make your night more interesting too," she said wiggling her eyebrows at Riley.

"What?" Riley said trying not to let her voice break. "Maya is it weird if we don't… you know do that while on vacation?"

"Well mostly if a couple goes away on a trip it's because they're becoming more intimate. It's just normal for that to happen."

"What if I'm not ready yet?"

"I thought everything was going fine with you two, what's bothering you?"

"Well lately, I feel like our kisses are getting more… um passionate, his hands start to roam and I don't know what to do and of course I don't know where to put my hands. I mean I know at some point we're going to get to that part of our relationship but right now I don't know how I feel about it. I think I'm just a little scared."

"That's understandable, you can't push these things but you also have to remember that you have to talk to him about it. It's not good keeping it to yourself."

"But wouldn't he hate me?"

"Riley if he treated you badly because you weren't ready for something than he's not worth your time, it's better to learn that now and not when you're in the middle of something and yell at him for forcing you to do it. Don't worry if he breaks your heart, I'll kick his ass and introduce you to some nicer guys."

"Thanks Maya," she said smiling. It was nice to have someone to talk to when all of this is happening it makes her feel as though her life was becoming like the books she loved to read.

"So what's that in your hand?" Maya said as Riley looked down at the list of things that she needed for the trip.

"My shopping list, I need a bunch of stuff," she said as Maya pulled it away from her.

"Towel, soap, shampoo… Riley what the hell you can get all of this at the hotel, you need clothes and lingerie. You need to start dressing like a girl."

"But…"

"No buts, now come on it's time for us to go shopping," she said pulling Riley down the corridors of the mall and going from one store to another, Riley made sure they stayed within a budget because she didn't want to spend all of her money. Maya put together outfits for each day they were going to be at the beach.

By the end of the day she was exhausted and didn't know if she would survive another rollercoaster with her friend. When she got back to her dorm room she sat down on her bed and thought that she was going to pass out from everything she had done but she needed to get ready for work. The money she got from the office helped her when she didn't want to ask her family for money.

Her phone rang as she changed her clothes, the number was from her Uncle Josh who lived in the city and was working at some nearby office while he went to school. She hadn't seen him in months but they always found the time to talk to one another.

"Hi Josh," she said as she tied her sneakers. "I don't have a lot of time to talk, I have to go to my job."

"Well hello my niece, your mom told me about the volunteer thing and she also told me to keep an eye on you because she didn't want to freak out my brother with the fact that you have a boyfriend. Of course my first thought is that wow my little niece is finally growing up. My second thought is that we need to go on a double date so that I can get to know the punk, because if he breaks your heart I'm going to break his face," Josh said.

His little rant made her smile because in the end the only person who had really looked out for her was Josh and although they didn't hang out as much as she wished she loved him all the same.

"That would be great, but it will have to wait until later this month, I have a lot of plans, and now my friends and my boyfriend have to go visit my parents."

"Before you go home, I want to meet him," he said over the phone.

"Okay, we can go out with you and your girlfriend who I haven't even met yet and you've been with her for I don't know how long. But yeah we can go out on this double date you want so badly."

"Alright, now go to work and I'll text you the details tonight," he said. She could hear him smiling almost as though he had won a battle, instead she sighed.

"Bye Josh," she said as she hung up the phone. This was another conversation she was going to have with Lucas. Her family kept throwing things at her.

While they worked Riley and Lucas kept themselves busy just so that they wouldn't bother each other, it was weird to work alongside him and not have him touching her. She missed his warmth but she was still a little weirded out by the touching when they made out. She didn't know what to do but he knew how to do everything. When their shift was over and the weekend night crew took over they sat in the breakroom with the papers for the trip. She knew she needed to talk to him about her feelings and it was a little hard for her to do so.

"Um… Lucas," she said looking down at her fingers.

"What's on your mind," he said looking directly at her. "I know something is bothering you because you never look me in the eye."

"Well it's two things, the first is that my Uncle Josh wants us to go on a double date with him and his girlfriend."

"That's reasonable, but why would your uncle want to go out with a couple of teenagers?"

"He's only three years old, but the explanation for that is that my grandparents had him late in their lives. He's really cool and all," she smiled a little. She was proud of her uncle who had overcome so much growing up, he was a premature baby but he's fought constantly to stay healthy because he wanted to prove the gods that he was stronger than they were.

"Okay, we have Friday night off so if he wants we can go then," Lucas said surprising her. She hadn't thought that anything in the world would be this easy. "What's the other thing?"

All of a sudden everything because difficult.

"Well… um… what if…" she stopped herself knowing that she needed to get it out or she would keep stalling. "Lucas what if I'm not ready for sex."

The room was silent for a moment before he looked up at her and smiled, "Riley I know this is all new to you, but remember I'm not going to force you into anything that you don't want to do. I'll wait until you're ready and I know it won't be anytime soon."

"Yeah but when we kiss, you um… start moving your hands and I thought you wanted to you know… and I didn't know what to say about it."

"Well is it so bad that I want to touch you?"

"Maybe not," she sighed.

"Listen Riles, when we kiss, or even make out it doesn't mean that we're going to have sex, but it's also normal to touch each other. I know you're uncomfortable with it because I always notice that you don't know where to put your hands but I do like touching you and maybe as you comfortable with our relationship you will start to touch me like that too. I know you like the kisses and I always pull you close because I… um… I like the fact that I can feel the steady pounding of your heart. It shows me that you care about me."

She felt herself blushing over his admission, she never thought to listen for his heartbeat but knew that the next time he kissed her she wanted to put her hand over his heart to see if what he said was true.

The two of the walked out into the night, they decided to pick up some food and head back to his place to eat since he was closer, and he would walk her home afterwards. Riley's mind was thinking about what he said and it made her smile. Lucas pulled her close just as they go near his place and kissed her, she automatically stiffened up but as the kiss became deeper she let herself feel his chest the same way he liked to touch her back and for a moment she could feel the steady pounding of his heart and she liked it.

A car screeched nearby but all she could hear was the rush of her blood in her ears, and the feel of his heart under her hand. She didn't want to let go because in a way it meant that this moment would change their whole relationship. They could get closer, and they could one day have sex but this is the moment that defined that part of their relationship and she liked it.

"Lucas," a man's voice yelled making the two of them break apart. In front of them stood a man, no older than his mid-forties, who looked like Lucas, the same sandy blonde/brown hair, the same jaw line, except this man's eyes were blue where Lucas' eyes were green.

The man walked up to them and slapped Lucas across his face, she didn't know what to do but she also knew that the man had some kind of relationship with Lucas.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Lucas said, Riley could hear the hatred in his voice over the man who stood before them.

"Well I heard that my stupid son was going to go on a trip to the beach, the same beach that killed his brother and you weren't even going to tell me, so of course when Alison told your mother and I all I could think was about how stupid my son could be," the man said pulling Lucas towards the car. "Are you trying to kill your mother? Is that what you want? The woman already lost her oldest child, and you're doing everything how you want but you don't listen do you?"

"Let go of me old man," Lucas yelled but his father kept pushing. Inside the car Riley could see Alison looking at her but the woman had a look on her face that made Riley step back.

"No you're coming home right now, I shouldn't have let you move out and do what you wanted. I should have locked you up in your room and made sure that you never disobeyed me especially if I knew that it would hurt your mother."

"Damn it let go."

Riley watched as Lucas was pushed into the waiting care. "Lucas," she said but her heart was pounding in her ears she couldn't understand what was happening. "Lucas," she yelled as he was pushed into the car and the door was closed. She could hear him pounding against the glass but he couldn't get out. "LUCAS," she yelled as the car pulled away leaving her standing on the street with only the memory of her boyfriend.

* * *

"Man his dad is a piece of work," Riley heard Zay say. She went looking for his friends right after everything had happened and they agreed to meet the next day. She didn't know what to do or what was happening

"He's at his parents' place right? Why won't he call me?" she asked worried about Lucas and what was happening to him. After everything she witnessed the day before she didn't know what to do. He saved her not too long ago so why couldn't she do the same thing for him.

"He should be fine," Farkle said to her trying to reassure her.

"Yeah but it's so weird that all of a sudden they have an interest in what he does, he moved out two years ago, he even worked to get emancipated from his family and it would have gone through if his mother hadn't freaked out," Zay said trying to figure out what was happening.

"It has something to do with the trip," she said as she filled them in on what had happened. "Apparently they're against him going to the beach, because Lucas picked the one where is brother died and his parents didn't take it well when Alison told them."

"Yeah but it's weird though, how did she find out anyway?"

"We told her a little while ago, I was making up with my parents so of course Lucas thought he should start mending his own relationships and the first one was with Alison but in the end if it would have turned out like this I wouldn't have said anything at all."

"Don't worry too much, this probably has something to do with his father's business and the fact that he doesn't want to lose the heir of his company since he already lost one of his sons," Zay said.

"Zay, stop talking," Farkle scolded his friend.

"Dude she has a right to know, they're freaking dating," Zay screamed.

"I know you're right," Farkle sighed before he looked at her. "You know that huge building over there," he said pointing out the huge structure that had recently been restored in the center of town.

"Yeah, what about it? What does that have to do with Lucas?"

"His father owns that building, actually he owns several buildings," Zay said finishing up for Farkle. "Have you ever heard of FIC?"

"Yeah they're that huge business, they own several companies under one just umbrella corporation," she answered.

"Yeah Lucas' family owns the company, and Lucas is the sole heir to the whole thing, his brother would have gotten it but he turned his back on the business to focus on what he wanted forcing all of the responsibility on Lucas who didn't want it either," Zay finished leaving Riley stunned.

"On the surface Lucas seems normal but deep down, his life is one giant mess," Farkle said.

They talked for a little while longer but Riley's heart wasn't in it, Lucas hadn't answered her called, or her messages. She didn't know what to do but she wanted to help him out somehow.

She found herself standing in front of his place looking at the glowing lights of his window, she didn't know if he was home or if he had left the light on but she didn't stop as she rushed up towards the apartment and opened the door with the key he had left behind the night he had the fight with his father.

"Lucas," she said but no one answered.

She wanted to cry but she held back, she instead walked around picking up the garbage and cleaning the apartment. She saw the book he had lent her when they first met and picked it up, there were little post-it notes on the pages, each note said something about what she had said about the book. Her favorite passages, each picture that she commented on. It was things that she had said without thinking but he remembered enough to put them into the book.

"Give me that book," Alison said from behind her. Riley didn't even hear her come in.

"What? Why?"

"That's the reason why I lost him, those stupid diaries about his trips," Alison said. It was then that Riley realized that her favorite writer was Lucas' brother. He had brought them together even though he wasn't alive in a way it made her happy but she knew that she couldn't feel completely happy until he was back home where he belonged. His family didn't really care if they had left him alone for so long. "Give me the damn book Riley."

"No," she said standing up hugging the book to her chest. "This book means the world to Lucas."

"Shut up Riley, you don't know anything,' she said. "You're an outsider in all of this."

"But," she said thinking about how happy he was whenever he spoke about his brother, even though they weren't together anymore they were still family.

"Whatever," she said before walking away. Riley had let down her guard but when Alison came back and ripped the book out of her hands Riley tried to reach for it, but Alison ripped the book in half before walking away.

The small notes fell to the floor leaving Lucas' handwriting all around her and the book that had brought them to one another in pieces on the floor.

She tried to put the book back together when she got to her dorm but her fingers glued themselves together and when she pulled them apart they started to bleed. She looked everywhere for the book but apparently it had only been released as a limited edition and a new copy would cost a small fortune. She worried about Lucas, she didn't know what to do, he had been with his parents for days and she missed him. The book was being held together with colorful tape and the pages had been glued back into the binding. Her fingers were covered in band aids because of the work she had put into putting the book back together. The book was the only thing she had that had his words in it, and the reassurance that he truly liked her.

There was a knocking sound at her balcony door, it was faint so no one would really hear it, she had almost missed it. Wiping away the tears she walked towards the sound only to see a dark shape on the other side.

"Riley," the voice whispered.

"Lucas?" she answered.

"Yeah it's me open up," he whispered.

She rushed in opening the gate to let him in, almost hitting him with the door in the process. When they were face to face she didn't know what to say.

"What are you doing here?" she said not know what to do. "Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?" she rambled before she held him close. "I was so worried."

He slowly put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, it was a small gesture but it meant the world to her.

"I'm sorry about everything," he said taking her hand. "Even this, I shouldn't have let it get that far, but thank you for trying to save my brother's memory."

"How did you?"

"Maya called Farkle and he called me," he said smiling. "I won't disappear again don't worry."

Riley held him close knowing that with everything that had happened all of a sudden she knew that they would be there for one another. It made her happy that she was able to save a piece of his life the same way he was able to save her. The summer was just starting but she knew that it was going to be a long one.


	8. Chapter 8 - Date Night

Chapter 8 – Date Night

Lucas had returned and she was happy, she didn't know why these feelings were so strong but she knew that he was a part of her heart and a part of the person that she was becoming. For the first time in her life she understood the role all of these people were playing in her life, and although she was still trying to get to know them all they were slowly chipping away at the wall she had put up.

It was the last day of school and although she usually stayed in her dorm throughout the summer, this summer was different. She discussed her living arrangement with the dorm mother, as well as her summer plans. The woman was happy that Riley was growing up and coming out of her shell. During the summer they usually worked together to get the dorms up to shape for the next group of students but they scheduled it around her time at the Vet's office and her trips. Riley was really good at maintenance because of this and the school paid her for her work. The money usually went into her savings account but she was going to use it for her trips that summer.

As the sky turned pink, she started getting ready for her date with Lucas, the two of them had taken the night off to go out with her Uncle Josh and his girlfriend. She knew that her mother had something to do with the sudden turn of events which made her happy because for once they were worried about her. She put on the dress that Lucas had brought her but she never got to wear, the memory made her smile but she had to finish getting ready.

A knock on her door as she put the finishing touches on her hair made her look up. The only make-up she owned was the lip gloss and she knew it would be perfect regardless because she could feel the heat in her cheeks from the anticipation of the date.

"Riley sweetie," the dorm mother said from the other side of the door. "Your Uncle is here."

"I'll be there in a minute," she said grabbing her purse and shoving her keys, her lip gloss and her still broken phone into the bag. She knew that she would have to change it but she didn't want to explain to her parents how it was broken. She walked out of her room making sure to lock it and walked towards the front.

Her Uncle Josh stood there dressed in a nice suit, making her wonder if he had just gotten out of work and hadn't had the chance to change.

"Hello my niece," he said as she stood in front of him.

"Hey Uncle Josh, how's college?"

"Pretty boring," he smiled. She knew he loved college but he didn't like to show it. "Work's harder than school but I'm getting used to it all."

"That's good," she hugged him and they walked out towards his car. "So when am I going to meet this girlfriend of yours?"

"Tonight," he smiled. "She's meeting us at the restaurant, and I'm guessing this boyfriend of yours is meeting us there too?"

Riley couldn't help but smile when the word boyfriend was mentioned. "Yes, I thought it would be nice for the two of us to talk on the way there. Since we haven't really talked in I don't know how long."

"Well I just want to say," he smiled at her. "You're doing better than the last time I saw you, but for some reason I think it has something to do with this boy."

"Well actually him and some friends that I've made in the last couple of months," she said thinking of Maya, and even Farkle and Zay who had become close with her thanks to Lucas.

"Good it's nice to hear that your coming onto your own, and now I can bug him because someone needs to do what your father is probably going to do eventually."

"Don't remind me," she sighed thinking about her dad and the freak out that was coming in a few weeks. "When mom tells him I know he's going to demand that I move back home."

"He might surprise you," Josh said with a straight face, but that moment only lasted ten seconds before he started laughing. "Yeah no he's going to freak, but I'll make sure nothing happens to the extent that he would force you to go back home."

"You're coming home with me that week?"

"Yeah I have some vacation time, and the family reunion is that same week so I took the time off. I'll drive you and your friends there too."

"Crap," she said. She had forgotten about the family reunion, she loved her relatives but she was always so quiet around them that normally they never paid any attention to her.

"You forgot about that didn't you?"

"Yeah, and of course that's the week my friends are coming, which means I have to deal everyone at the same time…. I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet."

"Let's just get through today, and when the time comes you will be able to stand in front of our family and be yourself."

She nodded hoping that what he was saying would come true, she hadn't been the same smiley Riley since just before middle school. That was around the time her brother had been born, they had put so much pressure on her because they wanted her to be someone her brother looked up to, they wanted her to be this perfect child in front of her mother's colleagues from work whenever they had a get together, she had to have perfect grades and be the perfect little lady. At one point she just stopped smiling, and as time went by she closed into herself. Her classmates made fun of her, the boys picked on her, she no longer felt safe. So when the opportunity presented itself she left at the first chance she got. Of course she had to deal with Missy and all of the other girls in her class but they mostly ignored her and she had liked it.

Lucas changed everything, and along the way she opened herself up to friends, and to the ability to stand up to her bullies. Yet she still couldn't deal with her life with her family and now she had to confront them all at the same time. The thought was frightening for her.

"Earth to Riley," Josh said as he waved his hand in front of her face. "You kinda spaced out there kiddo. Are you okay?"

"Yeah… sorry it's that I forgot about dealing with our family all at once. I thought…well that it would get easier but I guess in the end I'm still slowly trying to put myself together."

"It's alright, I know it will take some time. I don't know the whole story but I know that something caused you to close yourself off. I give props to that boyfriend of yours because he's helping you from the looks of things."

"Not only him, but my other friends," she smiled thinking about they've helped her. "They've given me the chance to open up and express myself in a way I thought I would never have. Uncle Josh I've been so wary of people for so long that the moment those walls started to break I kept trying to put them back up and I pushed him away, but he didn't give up on me and he gave me time even though I kept hurting him over and over."

"But now you're starting to let go of the past and heal yourself. That's why you talked back to your mother isn't it?"

"I just wanted her to hear me, and not the version of me she wanted to mold for so long."

"Well as long as you're still you in the end it wouldn't matter."

"I'm a better version of myself now, and I'm happy about that."

He pulled the car over in front of the restaurant and smiled at her, "We're here."

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, this was the first time that anyone in her family would be meeting her boyfriend. The feeling felt foreign to her but she knew that they were a good thing. They waited outside, their reservation wasn't until six but it was still a quarter to six and they still had to wait for the rest of their party to arrive. She wondered about Josh's girlfriend, about whether or not she was nice, and if she was good enough for him. If she brought out the best parts of his personality, and whether she would be nice to Riley.

Before she could ask anything Lucas was walking down the street dressed up in a blue and black suit, his hair was neatly combed and he had a smile on his face. He looked wonderful, making her sigh. The sound made Josh stand at attention and look over, Riley saw that his face was stern all of a sudden, he was doing the job that her father should be doing. Riley didn't give her father that option just yet because she wanted to stay at her school and the first thing her father would do is make her go back home.

"Riley," Lucas said smiling at her. "You look gorgeous… Wow…. I knew that dress would look wonderful on you."

"Excuse me?" Josh said making his presence known. "What is this about my niece's dress?"

"Hello my name is," Lucas started but Josh cut him off.

"I know who you are, you're Lucas, my niece's boyfriend," Josh said trying to be stern. Riley knew he would crack because he wasn't like her father. "Now what is this about my niece's dress?"

"Uncle Josh," Riley sighed. "Don't be rude."

"It's okay Riley," Lucas said smiling at her before facing her Uncle. "I brought the dress for Riley on our first date. I wanted her to have something nice for the date but instead we just sat around at my place and watched movies. Which was a perfect date because we could talk without interrupting anyone in a theater."

Riley knew that he was omitting some information, like how he lived alone and how they were kissing that night but she didn't mind. She watched Josh's face light up because he knew that this was something important, Lucas took care of her, and for Josh that was a major plus.

"Alright," Josh sighed looking down at hands. "I did my job now let's get to know each other."

"What?" Lucas said confused.

"He was acting how he thought my dad would react about us being together," she told him with a smile.

"Okay," he nodded. "Well let's start all over again, my name is Lucas Friar and I'm Riley's boyfriend," he smiled as the words came out making her grin at him.

"My name is Joshua Matthews and I'm her Uncle," Josh said holding out his hand. The two shook and stared at one another before laughing. "He's a good kid Riley," he said before turning to Lucas. "Hurt my niece and I'll cut your legs off."

"Don't worry about that because if I ever hurt her I would probably cut my own heart out," Lucas replied. At that moment Riley understood just how far Lucas' feelings for her went.

"Ah," Josh said looking at something behind them. "It looks like my girl is here."

"What?" Riley said looking around wanting to see Josh's girlfriend. "Where is she?"

Riley turned around to see a halo of blonde hair but the face was being blocked out by the setting sun in Riley's eyes. The girl was wearing strappy heels and a light yellow dress, Riley looked back at Josh who had a look of awe in his eyes. She knew that her Uncle loved this girl. At twenty her uncle was head over heels in love with this girl. All of a sudden the girl gasped as she reached them and Riley saw for the first time who it was.

Maya was standing in front of her, the memory of the day Maya had come late to school came back, she was in a car making out with a guy but Riley wasn't able to see the guy before he drove away because she didn't want to intrude.

"Oh my god," Riley said. "You're dating my friend Maya."

Josh stopped smiling and looked at Riley, "Wait you know each other?" he said as Maya finally stood next to them. Lucas looked around trying to figure out what was happening.

"So the guy you met when you were fourteen, was my Uncle Josh," she couldn't believe it. "This is the smallest world in the universe."

"I didn't know he was your uncle Riley, I swear," Maya said trying to defend herself.

"No it's not that," Riley said. "It's just that you helped me when no one else really saw me, and yet I didn't know a lot about you except that you were with this guy but I never thought to ask his name because I thought it would be rude."

"So you're not mad?" Maya asked looking at her worried.

"No actually I'm happy," Riley smiled. "Josh deserves someone as strong as you, and from the looks of it he knows how much he loves you too."

Maya and Josh both blushed at her words, "Well we're celebrating two things today," Josh said smiling as he tried to divert the attention away from him and Maya. "My niece's new life with her boyfriend, and Maya's birthday."

"Today's your birthday? I'm such a bad friend," Riley said looking down at her hands.

Maya shook her head and made Riley look at her, "Riles, I know you're trying, this is all new for you, everything, the friendship thing the boyfriend thing, your adjusting but next year I know you will remember and I'm looking forward to that."

Riley smiled and nodded, she had friends and birthdays to look forward to, it was all new for her but it was an experience she was looking forward to. The rest of the dinner they spent talking about their summer trip, Josh couldn't make it for that trip because he had to work but asked Maya to send him pictures. They were looking forward to revealing their long-term relationship to his parents, Riley's grandparents, during the family reunion. He knew that they would find the age difference weird but as he told Riley, that the age difference isn't as weird these days, men and women dated people decades apart in age, but as him and Maya got older they understood that their relationship was a lasting one, and they wanted to stay together.

Riley knew parts of the story since Maya had told her so much, but hearing Josh talking about it she knew that they had something special, a once in a lifetime connection. Maybe one day Maya would become a part of her family and the thought of someone she liked being with Josh just made her smile. She always worried about her Uncle with someone who would push Riley away from him, when he has always been there for her even if she didn't talk all the time. Now she was happy that she wouldn't have to worry about that.

As the dinner came to an end they all walked to the car, Riley held onto Lucas, the amount of food she had eaten she was feeling sleepy, the excitement over the dinner as well as the worry about Josh meet Lucas had finally died down and she was ready to go to bed. She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until someone had put her down on a bed.

"Don't worry just go to sleep," Lucas' voice said and she did sleep, she had a dream of him dancing with her on a beach, she was wearing white and he was dressed in a tuxedo, smiling at her and lifting her up in the air and twirling her around. It was a nice dream, she wanted it to be real for as long as possible.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Start of New Beginnings

Chapter 9 – The Start of New Beginnings

A week had passed since she had dinner with Josh, Maya, and Lucas, and she couldn't be happier. Now the trip was a day away and she was packing two bags, one for her trip with her friends to the beach, and the other for her trip home to see her family. She didn't want to think about what her family was going to think when she met them in a few weeks, she just wanted a moment under the sun with the friends she had made. No bullies, no questions. A quiet knock on her balcony door drew her away from what she was doing. When she went to open it she saw Maya standing on the other side with a bag of take-out and a smile on her face. Riley was still trying to get used to the idea of Maya dating her uncle, she knew that the two of them loved each other and it was nice but that also meant that if they got serious in the future Maya would be her aunt.

"I came to sleepover," Maya said, her bag on the floor next to her feet. "I figured we can have a girl's night just the two of us before the guys invade tomorrow."

Riley laughed she hadn't thought about anything like that before. "I've never had a sleepover."

"That's why you have me in your life," she said as she walked in. Riley put her bags by the door and set up the little table she had in her room for them to eat.

"So what do we do at sleepovers?"

"Well usually it's make-overs and watching cheesy movies, but since we have to get up early how about a quick facial, and a movie. Well after we eat these tacos, and you tell me how serious you are about Lucas."

Riley felt her face flush at the thought of her boyfriend, the word still felt foreign to her even though they have been together for a few months now.

"Well," she started before she looked down at her hands. "I think I love him, I know that I'm in love with him but it's still all new to me, and I haven't really told him."

"Why haven't you told him?"

"I guess I just wanted to make sure, I mean how do you know you love someone?"

"Well let's see, do you often check your phone to see if he has sent you a message? Or is he the first thing you think about in the morning after you wake up?"

"Yes," Riley answered.

"Is he the last thing you think about before you go to bed?"

"Yes."

"When you're together what do you talk about? Have you talked about the future?"

"We talk about what we want to do after we graduate, he wants to be veterinarian, I'm still trying to figure it out but I want to be a writer."

"Riley, you're in love with him and you should tell him. You have both gone through so much together, if he didn't love you he wouldn't have agreed to meet your parents. Use this trip and get your feelings out."

"Okay," she said thinking about what Maya had said throughout the night, she barely slept because she was trying to figure out how to tell him. They've taken their relationship slowly, and she knew that this was a huge leap from where they were. She was afraid about what it would do to them, but she also remembered that with love you had to take risks in order to move forward.

The next day she woke up after only having four hours of sleep and got ready, while still thinking about how to tell him. Her mind was fuzzy with the need to sleep but instead she threw cold water on her face to wake herself up. When she finished Maya was ready to go, smiling at her friend. The group had decided to meet up at the park by her dorm in order to get an early start, they were going to take the train to where they were going to stay but when the girls got there Riley noticed a van parked near where Lucas was standing. His face was set in stone and Riley was worried over what had happened.

When he saw her, he broke away from where he was standing to go to her, pulling her into a hug and breathing her in. She knew something had happened or else he wouldn't be acting as though the world was ending in front of them.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Alison is driving us, my parents want to make sure that nothing happens so they sent her as a chaperone," he sighed. "It was just supposed to be us but now I have to deal with this."

Riley knew he had problems with his family, but since she was confronting her family in a few weeks, she wanted him to do the same.

"Maybe it's time to step in and say something?" she told him. "I'm going to deal with my parents, maybe you should do the same, we can do it together."

He looked at her as if she had grown a second head before dropping his head down in defeat. "I think you may be right."

"I have an idea, why don't you ask them to come to the beach on Friday, and we can talk, this time without your father taking you away. He won't be anywhere near here so it would be impossible for him to drag you away."

"Okay," he said looking at her as if he were gathering his strength. He pulled out his phone and began typing a message, Riley hoped that he could convince them to come down. When he was done he handed her the phone and gave her a weak smile.

"Look it over and see if there's anything else I should write… and I want you to press send, because if you give it back to me I know that I'll just erase it and forget about even trying to fix anything."

She nodded at him and started reading the message, the email was addressed to two people, his father and his mother, it was labeled as priority so that they would get the message,

 _Dear Mom and Dad,_

 _It's Lucas, I'm writing to see if you would join me and my girlfriend Riley this Friday at the hotel I'm staying at. I've been putting this off for far too long, ever since Nathan died, you were both so heartbroken that you forgot I was there. It's one of the reason I couldn't stay at home and asked to move out, I loved my brother as much as you loved your son, but it's time to mend our relationship and forward. Nathan would have wanted that and you know it. So if you wouldn't mind taking the time, please come meet us for dinner, and let's talk._

 _Your son,_

 _Lucas_

Riley read the email several times and before he could take back the phone she hit send, she wanted him to do what she was doing and rebuild the relationships that they had with their families. The two of them were both broken in their own ways but they made each other stronger.

"I sent it," she said as she handed him the phone.

"The waiting is going to kill me I know it," he said as he shoved his phone in his pocket.

"I know," she said taking his hand and giving him a squeeze.

She looked around to see where Maya had gone only to see her standing by the van with Farkle and Zay. They were all talking, and like always Zay was trying to get Maya's attention. Riley thought that at some point she was going to have to break the bad news to him, that her friend was taken, but she didn't want to do it while she was helping Lucas. As they approached the van Riley couldn't help but feel strange around Alison, she had been the reason why Lucas was taken away by his father, but Riley also understood that Alison and Lucas had both lost someone and they were fighting with themselves over the memory of that person.

Riley wondered what kind of man Nathan Friar had been before he died, and why his memory had put a wedge in between everyone he loved. She smiled at everyone but hadn't said a word, when they all took their seats she snuggled up to Lucas hoping that it would give her some relief over the sad thoughts in her mind. But the look of nervousness in his eyes worried her. She tried to soothe his nerves and after a while he began to loosen up. It wasn't long before the two of them fell asleep in the back while holding onto one another.

* * *

It was Zay's excited voice that had woken up Riley, to a smiling Lucas, when she had asked him why he was so happy he only answered that he liked watching her sleep. The memory of the first time she had slept over came back to her in vivid details. She still had the picture he had taken of her, and somedays she looked at it wondering if that's how he saw her. He could tell that she was blushing and kissed her on her forehead. Their friends laughs, fell away in that moment, Riley felt as if it was just her and Lucas. No one else around, just as he was about to kiss her the car stopped and Alison said that they were there.

"I'll check everyone in, so grab your bags," Alison said as she walked away, the van was being taken away by the valet and the group was slowly grabbing what they had brought with them.

"What should we do first?" Zay asked Maya who had ignored him and turned to Farkle.

"Let's go to the beach and soak up some sun," she said to Farkle ignoring Zay's flirting.

"Sounds like a good idea," Farkle said but Riley laughed as she watched the trio.

"What's so funny?" Zay said as he gave her a questioning look.

"You three, Zay did you ever think that maybe just maybe, that Maya isn't interested in you? That's why she keeps turning to Farkle, because he will try and help her."

Zay pulled Riley aside and looked her in the face, "Why wouldn't she be interested in me?"

"Well," she thought about it like she was ripping off a Band-Aid, "She has a boyfriend, and they're in love."

"Then why isn't he here with us?"

"Zay, you seem like a nice guy and all, and you will find a girl one day, but Maya isn't it… Trust me."

He looked at her defeated as Lucas walked over.

"You told him didn't you?" Lucas asked and Riley nodded.

"Man you knew, and you didn't stop me?"

"How was I supposed to, once you get something in your head you don't stop until you get it, but this time it failed and I thought maybe you would take a hint and walk away."

Riley felt bad and did the only thing she could, "Maybe we can set up a mixer or something when school starts with some of the girls in my class."

Zay's head perked up as he looked at Riley, "Really? You would do that for me even though I treated you badly when we first met?"

"Yes, because I've learned to forgive," she said. "So a mixer?"

"Yes, and thank you."

When Zay walked away Lucas turned to Riley and smiled. "You've made a new friend."

"Well he's a nice guy, even though he's a bit shallow when it comes to girls but he's still a nice guy."

Lucas laughed at her comments before he grabbed her bag and took her hand. Together they walked into the air conditioned lobby to find Alison with their room keys. They had a three-bedroom suite on one of the upper floors since there were so many of them. They all went upstairs and got ready but Riley could see how nervous Alison was acting. The beach where Nathan had died was nearby, and although they were on the hotel's private beach, and there were lifeguards everywhere. The memory was still in the woman's mind.

Riley decided to walk over to her once they stepped foot on the beach and talk to her, in hopes of easing the woman's fears. But the closer she got the more nervous she was. They were supposed to be having fun, but Riley wanted everyone to heal and move forward.

"Alison," Riley said as she reached the beautiful woman.

"Yes Riley," she said looking down at her feet before looking at Riley.

"Don't you think that maybe, it's time to move forward?"

"You have no right to say that to me, you're just a girl who is involved with Lucas you have no right to talk to me like that. You don't know anything."

"You're right I don't know anything, but from what I understand Nathan was someone very special for both you and Lucas, and in the end his death caused a fracture in his life that separated him from everyone he knew, because everyone had been so fixated on the death of his brother that they forgot he was there."

Alison looked over at Riley as if she had thrown salt on an open wound, and she was watching as it bled.

"Just understand this from his point of view, he lost his brother and in the end also lost his family. You're a part of that family, and you need to come together before it's too late."

Alison sighed as if she were trying to distract herself from crying in front of the teenager.

"When I met Nathan, I was working at this magazine that published his pictures, he was the most amazing looking man I had ever seen, Lucas and him have the same eyes, but Nathan had lighter hair like their mother. He always traveled around the world for the magazine getting these amazing shots of nature, and people. He would have liked you, since you both have this energy that makes you want to help everyone, but where you suppressed it Nathan exceled. We dated off and on for a few years, he became more and more popular and started writing these books. The one I ripped that belonged to Lucas was one of them."

Riley felt as though the world had opened up around her, Nathan had been the reason she and Lucas had gotten together, his book was her favorite, she always wished she could meet him. Now she knew that she had, and through him she met his brother.

"That book was the last one, and the one that made us both want to have a family. We were always traveling so we couldn't have one just yet, so before that book was finished, about two weeks before he died we had fertilized a few of my eggs, it was just a precaution in case something happened. Those far off places we often went to weren't the healthiest of places and we wanted to be prepared for anything. The problem was the anything we were scared wasn't what had caused the pain in our hearts. In the end he died saving his brother, but I had lost my husband."

Alison was crying in front of her, the story of the man she loved and the fact that she would never see him again had broken her heart. Riley now understood the love that she felt for Lucas was as frightening as what Alison had felt for Nathan.

"You haven't lost him," Riley said. "You have a part of him waiting to come to life, you have his babies, and even though they wouldn't be able to know their father, those books and his family are there to fill that missing piece of their lives."

She stopped crying and looked at Riley. "I know, I figured that part out after I watched Lucas and his father fighting over what I had said, all because I was afraid. I implanted one of those eggs two months ago, on our wedding anniversary. I'm pregnant," she said smiling slightly. "I think the reason why I was so afraid of Lucas coming here was because I was afraid of confronting my own fears."

"Stop running from them, I had to because in the end they can't hold us down," Riley said taking Alison's hand. "How about this, you, me and Lucas go visit his grave, you can have a talk with your husband, and you will also have a chance to confront your fears."

"You're a very strong young woman Riley."

"I'm not," Riley said looking at Lucas playing in the sand with his friends. "I'm trying to be stronger, I have my own problems, but I'm learning from them and in a way so is Lucas… We invited his parents to come have dinner here with us on Friday, maybe you can all use that moment to take the first step forward."

Alison nodded before turning and walking away, Riley went to where her friends were playing and told Lucas about her discussion with Alison, omitting the part about her pregnancy. Lucas thought it was a good idea, but the next day when they decided to get an early start she could tell he was nervous.

It was just the three of them in the car, but no one talked, the silence was making Riley regret suggesting that they confront Nathan's death head-on. When they pulled off of the road and onto the dirt path Riley saw the flowers from the picture Lucas had given her.

"We're here," Alison said, her face white as a sheet as she looked out into the large expanse. "I feel sick."

"It's okay, we can do this in baby steps," Lucas said but Alison looked over at Riley with a smile and that's when Riley knew that the sickness Alison felt had nothing to do with where they were.

"Here have some water," Riley said pulling a bottle out of the cooler, she also gave her a pack of soup crackers. Alison smiled at Riley before taking a sip of the water and nibbling on the crackers. Lucas just watched the water, as they all got out of the car.

"I never thought that I would come back here," he said. Riley took his hand and gave it squeeze. Lucas had told her that a bit of his brother's ashes had been spread just over the ocean after he was cremated, but he hadn't gone back to the spot ever since it happened. Nearby a small gravestone with Nathan's name drew them closer.

They stood there looking at it for a few minutes before Lucas kneeled down and apologized for causing his death, before introducing Riley. She held onto him as he cried over his brother's grave, each sob brought another "I'm sorry," out of Lucas which broke Riley's heart. When he calmed down enough Alison kneeled down next to them and brushed off some fallen debris off of the marble before she kissed her hand and placed it over Nathan's name. When she revealed that she was pregnant Lucas looked over surprised, especially since the child belonged to his brother. But instead of saying anything they all just sat there in silence for an hour as the breeze caressed them in it's warm embrace.

When they returned to the car, Alison explained everything to Lucas, at first he was speechless but after a brief moment he hugged his sister-in-law, and apologized to her for everything. Alison also apologized to him over what had happened just a few weeks before.

"Baby steps," Riley said when they got back to the hotel and Alison excused herself so that she could lay down and rest.

"For the both of us," he said to her and walked her out to the beach as the sun set in the horizon.

* * *

Lucas hadn't heard from his parents by Friday afternoon, and Riley could tell that they weren't going to come.

"They love you," she told him.

"I know, but I think that my brother's death broke something inside of them," he sighed watch the water in front of them.

They sat there watching the push and pull of the waves, as kids play in front of them smiling at their families. They had taken advantage of the water earlier that day, surfing and playing with their friends but at that moment they just wanted to be together.

"I was talking to Maya a few days ago and she asked me about how serious our relationship was," Riley said blushing as she remembered her own confession.

"I want us to be together for a long time Riley," he said to her. "I know we're young but you're a part of me, and I don't know if I could let go."

"Well I told her that I know that even though we've been together for a short time, that I'm in love with you."

"You love me," he said as a smile formed. "I've wanted to hear that from you from the moment I saw you on the bus, I didn't know it then but I guess fate has its way of pushing people together."

"Really," she said. "Even when I hated you and pushed you away all of the time."

"Riley I wouldn't have kept coming back if I didn't want you to be with me. I do love you and I know it's scary and new but for us it's been a long journey just to get here. We have a long way to go in the future."

Someone cleared their throat behind them causing them to look back, Lucas's parents stood there looking at them. Alison not far behind them.

"We were invited to dinner," Mr. Friar said causing the two teens to jump up and look at them.

"But you didn't reply to my email, I never made the reservation because you never replied," Lucas said looking at his parents.

"I have a picnic," Alison said walking up to them. "I set it up in one of the gazebos that you can rent out."

They walked towards the gazebo in silence, no one looking at anyone else, Riley felt out of place because this was his family but Lucas wouldn't let go of her hand. When they all sat down at the table that had been set up no one looked at the food. Alison gave Riley a small smile that told her it might take a while but Riley knew that it would probably take a century of them just sitting there.

"So Riley," Lucas's mother said after the silence became deafening. "I hear that you're Lucas' girlfriend. How did you meet?"

Riley went into the explanation of how they met on the bus on the way to school omitting the parts where she constantly ran away from Lucas. While she was talking Lucas looked over at his father and took a deep breath, but didn't say a word.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said the moment Riley finished talking. He looked up at his parents and said sorry for a second time which made everyone go quiet again.

"I'm sorry too," his father said. "I couldn't protect my children and now I've not only lost one son to the ocean, I pushed the other one away to the point where he didn't want to speak with me."

"We were all grieving sweetheart," his mother said taking her husband's hand. "We still are, but Lucas was right it's time for us to at least mend our relationships with each other. I have to learn that I may never see my son have a family of his own, but I still have Lucas and right now I need to fix what was broken."

Lucas looked at Alison for a moment before the woman spoke, "Well Mr. and Mrs. Friar you will still see Nathan's children."

His parents looked shocked but Alison explained everything that she had told Riley a few days before, Lucas already knew but Riley could tell that he was happy that his brother still had a legacy in his family.

"I can't believe it," his mother said before getting up and hugging Alison.

"Lucas," his father said. "I really would love it if you came and took over the company."

"I can't dad, I have my heart set on being a veterinarian, just like Nathan wanted to be a photo journalist. We're not businessmen."

"I understand, but what if for now you just took over the ranching business your Pappy Joe started, and maybe one day you can run the company, or you can leave it to your own children."

"There's a ranching business?" Lucas said surprised. "I didn't know that."

His father sighed, "I should have told you, I should have talked more and listened to you. But yes there is and if you want you can work as the veterinarian on site if it makes you happy. I brought a publishing firm in your brother's honor as well because I know that my children should have meant more than my work and it took losing my son for me to realize it."

Lucas took a deep breath and Riley knew that he was trying to hold himself back because he didn't want to cry in front of his family.

"Lucas," Riley said. "Say something."

Instead he got up and walked toward his father, hugging him for the first time since they sat down. After they talked about the ranch, the conversation became lighter, Alison told them stories about Nathan, while Lucas's mother questioned Riley about her relationship with her son. The sun set behind them but they kept talking, making up for all of the important talks that they had missed out on since Nathan had died. When his parents left to go to the suite and relax with Alison, Lucas pulled Riley towards the sand and hugged her as he cried.

"Thank you," he whispered in her ear.

"Well we would do anything for the people we love," she said holding on to him. "We both need this, we need to let go of the past and look towards the future."

The stayed there for a long time, watching the stars in the sky as Lucas held onto Riley's hand, even as the clouds rolled in a sprinkled them with a quick summer rain before disappearing in the horizon.

"Baby steps," she said to him as they walked back into the hotel and to their suite. Before they walked through the door Lucas pulled her into his arms and kissed her, the kiss was all consuming but it was also freeing her heart to truly be with him.


	10. Chapter 10 – Reconciliation

Chapter 10 – Reconciliation

Riley sat on the beach watching the waves move as her friends played volleyball in the sand, she wasn't very athletic so she didn't want to tempt fate and injure herself. Lucas' parents had left a few hours before, asking them all if they wanted a ride back, Alison had gone with them when they decided to take the train back home.

"So… Riley," Maya said sitting down on the blanket next to her as the guys continued to play. "I guess everything went okay with his folks?"

Riley smiled and nodded, "It's for the better, plus it gave me some insight, I need to make amends as much as Lucas needed to."

"Josh is really going to drive us to your parents' house, which means I'm going to actually meet his brother, this is freaky even for me. We've been together for so long but we've never thought about taking this kind of step."

"Sorry if I'm putting that kind of pressure on you," she sighed realizing what this meant, but Maya shook her head.

"I love him, but I've always thought that he would do it on his own, I guess I'm a little disappointed."

"Don't be, Josh is a little weird like that, he was always the youngest and they all knew his business from day one, in the end I think he just wanted one thing that he didn't have to share with his family, with me, but in the end I think he's a little relieved about it. I asked him the other night when we were finalizing our plans, and he told me thank you," Riley sighed remembering the conversation. "He's always been afraid that he wouldn't live up to this promise that he made with my dad when he was like two years old. In the end he realized that he had lived up to it, by just meeting you."

Maya looked over at her and smiled, Riley couldn't understand why her friend was happy but Riley knew that her words had given the blonde some kind of hope. Maya hugged her close and Riley felt wetness on her shoulder, she didn't pull away but only held on to her friend. After a few minutes Maya pulled away and wiped her face smiling.

"One day I'm going to be your Aunt," she said as she pushed herself off of the towel. "Now come on let play on the beach before we have to head back."

Riley nodded and ran off to meet her friends, it was still new to her but she was starting to feel more comfortable around them. She watched as Maya and Zay dared one another into a sand castle building contest, that had turned into a massive competition with Farkle as the only judge. Riley tried her best against Lucas, while Maya built a massive structure by herself. Zay had spent too much time building a moat which had cost him time, so while half of his castle crumbled Maya ran around yelling about her victory.

Afterwards they all cooled off in the water before going to the beachside showers and rinsing off all of the sand. They didn't have time to go back to the hotel and change so they threw their clothes over their swimsuits and headed off to the train station. Alison had taken their luggage and dropped it off in Lucas' apartment so that they would be able to pick it up once they got back. The last thing that Riley remembered was falling asleep in Lucas' arms as the sunset around them.

One week had passed since the beach trip, Riley's nerves were all over the place and she couldn't get a grip on herself. She had written about her trip in a journal she had brought during the week, she had written for hours about the last year of her life, about meeting Lucas, about her problems at school, and lastly about falling in love. Each passage had a picture of her life in the last year and how she had changed, how her friends had helped her change and how love had given her hope. She wrote about Lucas' brother, and his parents, she wrote about why she felt alone for so long, and finally she wrote a letter to her parents on the first five pages. It was an apology, and a thank you. She was sorry that she had let their relationship get the where it had ended up, but thanked them for the chance to go to school where she had, because it had given her the confidence she had never known that she had.

When she finished everything she wrote the title on the very first page, 'Notes and Words,' it was her journey to self-discovery, it was what she wanted her parents to know about her. It was what she wanted the world to know about her, a girl who had once thought that she was better off alone, only to become stronger because of the people in her life.

She closed the book, and put it inside of a box, wrapping it so that she could give it to her parents when she finally got home. She hoped that they would understand her words without question, and not reject them.

The next morning, she woke up before the sun rose over the horizon, Josh was picking up Maya, while Lucas was meeting Riley at her dorm. They had decided that this journey was just for the four of them. Josh was finally going to introduce Maya to his family, while Riley was going to introduce Lucas. If everything went well they would bring Farkle and Zay during the next trip, she didn't want to overwhelm herself with too many people, because she was still afraid of being lost in the shuffle of her own family.

A soft knock on her back door alerted her to the fact that Lucas had arrived, she smiled because he had been on time, while she was still half asleep. As she made her wait to the door she wondered about how much effort he was making, and whether her parents would like him, but she pushed the thoughts aside and let him in.

"You're not ready," he said frowning at her appearance.

"Give me a minute, I spent a lot of time working on something last night," she said rushing to the bathroom to get ready. "Are you scared?" she asked once she was finished.

"Sort of, I mean I've never gotten to the point in a relationship where I meet the parents, hell no one outside of Zay and Farkle know who my parents are," he said looking down at his hands. "This is all very new to me."

"Well it's the same for me," she said taking his hand and wrapping them around her waist. "But remember we decided this a long time ago, we might as well see it through."

He nodded and gave her a quick kiss before grabbing her stuff and taking it outside, Maya and Josh were waiting inside of Josh's car, they were talking and drinking coffee. But all Riley wanted to do was go back to sleep, so climbed in and gave them both a quick good morning before pulling out a blanket from her backpack and wrapping herself in it before laying her head down on Lucas' legs. She fell asleep as he started stroking her hair, it felt so natural to be there in that moment.

The sound of the garage door closing woke her up as Josh parked the car, Riley could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Even though she agreed to this meeting, she didn't know how she was going to be able to handle her family for the first time.

"Don't worry too much," Lucas said to her trying to calm her down.

She knew that if he could talk to his parents after years of avoiding them, then she could do the same. She needed to clear the air with them about why she had pulled away from them, because she wanted to have them in her life again.

"Riley," the excited voice of her little brother came out of the back door. She looked over to see him bouncing, his unruly curls jumped up and down with him, she couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Auggie," she said stepping out of the car. Watching as her Uncle grabbed the little boy and swung him around.

Maya and Lucas both watched as Riley walked over and hugged her little brother, she knew this was a moment she couldn't forget because she was taking her first steps towards mending the relationships with her family. She smiled at Lucas before taking his hand and pulling him close.

"Auggie, this is Lucas," she said to her little brother. "And that over there is Maya, she likes Uncle Josh."

Auggie looked her friends over and nodded. "I approve," he said before walking over to each of them and shaking their hands. "Mommy is waiting for you in the kitchen, Daddy had a meeting so he won't be back until this afternoon."

"Thanks for telling me," she smiled pulling him into her arms. She hadn't realized how much she missed her little brother until that moment. "Come on let's go see mom."

"Riley," Josh said looking at her. "I'm going to show Maya and Lucas their rooms, and we'll be down in a bit, Auggie you want to come along?" Josh asked, and it was at that moment that Riley knew that she was going to have to face her mother alone for the first time.

"Okay," she said to them before grabbing the box she had wrapped her journal in. As she walked into the house the memories of growing up there had slowly come back to her. How her father had put band-aids on her cuts, and how her mother had read books to her when she was sick. The day her little brother came home from the hospital. They were all good memories, she realized that she couldn't let the bad overtake her anymore.

"Topanga," her father's voice came in through the front door making Riley stop in the doorway. He didn't finish the sentence, instead he looked up at Riley shocked to see her.

"I'm guessing mom didn't say I was coming to visit?" Riley said as slowly walked into the room.

"No," was all he said before walking over and pulling her into a hug. "My baby girl has come home."

"I'm visiting with Uncle Josh and a few friends, and to go to the reunion," she said to him. "I'm here to make amends for everything."

"Oh sweetie you don't have to make amends for anything," her mother said walking over and putting her arms around them. "I realized something when we talked a few months ago about this visit, and although I hadn't told your father about this I think it's time that we all fess up to our own mistakes."

The three of them pulled apart, and her mother brought them over to the couch to sit down, her father looked confused as they looked at one another but didn't say anything.

"I looked at how we raised you, and how we raised your brother," her mother started looking Riley in the eye for the first time. "Your brother is a little more expressive than you were at that age, he smiles all of the time and is always trying to make people happy, but he's also not afraid to tell them the truth when he needs to. Or even bring home his friends without being afraid of what I think," she stopped and pulled Riley's hands onto her lap. "I made a lot of mistakes raising you, and for that I'm sorry, I put so much pressure on you because I wanted you to be this fearless leader like I was forgetting that when I was growing up I wasn't like that. I was so afraid of messing up with you that I did everything except let you be a little kid."

Her father looked at them as his wife talked and sighed, "My overprotective streak probably didn't help either did it," he said looking at the two women in his life. "I wanted to protect you from everything that in the end I kept you from experiencing life, I want nothing bad to happen but your brother got to go out and climb trees and play in the dirt. We were awful parents to you but the best parents to Auggie."

Riley couldn't help but cry as she heard these words from her parents but she stopped them before they could say anything else. "You guys weren't that awful, we did have some good memories, I guess it's just that at some point I became more worried about pleasing you that I forgot I was just a little kid. We should have talked more, but in the end I wouldn't change anything because I wouldn't have had the chance to meet the most wonderful people, and experience life like I have recently."

"You made friends?" her father asked and she nodded.

"She brought them here for us to meet," her mother said smiling.

"Before you meet them, I want to give you this," Riley said handing her mother the box. "I want to write and be a photographer, I don't know exactly what kind of photography I want to do or what kind of writing, but I know that it's what I want."

"What is this?" her mother said as she opened it.

"It's everything that's happened since I started school away from you guys, I want you to know the whole truth about my life because in the end you deserve to know. I also wanted to share a part of myself," she said looking down at her hands. The book was filled with everything she ever wanted to say about herself, and the life she had made recently. "There's good and bad in there but I want you to have it."

Her mother nodded as she stroked the cover as her father pulled her into a hug. "You can do whatever your heart desires," he said as he pulled away.

"There's one more thing about this visit," Riley said as she started to rub her legs. "Um… I guess the reason why mom didn't tell you… um… well one of the people who came with me is… well it's my boyfriend."

She watched as her father's eyes widened, her mother smiled at her but she knew that her father was about to freak out. "I didn't send you away to school to get a boyfriend," he said sighing. "But if you are opening up I will try and give him a chance… but I'm not making promises."

"Okay, now that that's out of the way," Josh said walking into the room. "How about you meet Riley's friends," he finished smiling at his family.

Lucas and Maya walked into the room, both smiling at Riley, she knew that these people were going to be in her life for a long time. They had helped shape who she had become, they had helped her get out of her comfort zone and learn to embrace life.

"Mom, Dad, this is Maya," Riley said bringing the blonde closer. "She's in my school and she's Josh's girlfriend."

Riley knew she had said it so that it would soften the blow as she introduced Lucas. Her parents looked over at Maya with wide eyes, mainly because Josh hadn't dated in years and everyone thought he was overworking himself by being a student and working.

"And this is Lucas, my boyfriend," she said as quietly as she could but it didn't help, her father stood up and looked Lucas in the eye.

"Hurt my daughter and you will answer to Godzilla," he said pointing at his wife.

"Cory," her mother scoffed as she got up and shook Lucas' hand. "Don't worry about him he's still overprotective of his little girl."

Lucas nodded at her before speaking, "I will try ma'am," he said before smiling at Riley. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

The rest of the afternoon the group spent talking about Riley growing up, her mother brought out an album of pictures of her as a little kid. Riley had never seen them before but it made her happy to know that her parents had documented her life even though she had pulled away. Within the pages were her papers from school, drawings she made when she was little, small things here and there that showed just how much they had really loved her. When her mother got up to cook dinner she made Riley and Lucas go out for a walk, to give them time away from her father who had been shooting daggers at Lucas all afternoon.

"Your parents are pretty incredible," he said as they reached the nearby park.

"Yeah," she said as she sat down on a swing. "I never knew they loved me so much, I always assumed that they hated me because there was too much pressure to be perfect."

He nodded and slowly pushed her on the swing. "If I learned anything recently from our talks with our parents is that they all care, but because of circumstance we push them away. It's going to take some getting used to but I think it's good for both of us to get to know them better."

"You're right about that, and we can do this together like everything else."

"So you want to write?" he said as he pushed her higher. "I think you should write novels about girls who grow up to be strong women, you can empower others who think they're alone in the world."

"You don't want me traveling like your brother did?" she said looking up at him. She didn't really want to travel as much either.

"No I'm just saying that you have this ability to help others, you did help me," he said slowly down the swing before turning it so that they would be face to face.

"I've never written novels before but I've always wanted to try, I mean I loved what your brother did because it helped me escape but I could never do that. It's not who I am, but I can try writing stories, and who knows you could be right about influencing others."

"It was just a suggestion, who knows you could blow everyone away by writing a story about a girl who works part time in a vet clinic, and saves animals by taking their pictures."

Riley thought about what he was saying and realized that he was right, she could change the word with her words, because his brother's words were what helped her.

"Speaking of animals," she said to him. "How are you coping with what your father suggested?"

"I'm going to try and get my degree in veterinary medicine and business, I want to get closer to my dad, make him proud of me."

"Okay," she said pulling him close and kissing him on the lips. "I'll write a story for you too, I don't know if that's what I want but I'll go to school and get a degree in writing and photography. Who knows I might find my calling while I'm there."

"As long as we do this together, I think we can achieve anything."

"Anything at all," she smiled as she stood up and hugged him. "Together."


	11. Chapter 11 - Epilogue – Five Years Later

Chapter 11 – Epilogue – Five Years Later

Riley stood in her apartment for the first time since getting her first book published, he had been right she was good at writing novels about strong fierce young women. Some of them fell in love, while others just took over the world. She wrote about the people she knew, and who they became, but mostly she wrote about herself as a character. Sometimes in far off places, in different worlds, they all had something to say, they all made her stronger. She was proud of that.

"Riley," Maya said sticking her head out of the kitchen. "Everything is set up in here."

"Thanks Maya," she said looking around. "Lucas should be here soon so why don't you go home to Josh and have a good night."

"I will, but remember if you need anything just call."

"Maya I'm 21 years old, an adult, trust me everything is going to be fine."

"I know it's just that moving in together is a big deal, you guys aren't even married."

"You and Josh are, and things with you aren't any different."

"Yeah I guess, call me later," Maya said before walking out of the apartment leaving Riley alone with the view of the city.

Lucas had gotten them the apartment, his father owned the building along with a few others and offered them the apartment when Lucas graduated a year early so that they wouldn't have to worry finding a place. At first she didn't think it was a good idea but once Lucas started working, and she had to do publicity tours it had become their only option. The place was huge and it had been renovated with what they liked, but most of all the place felt like home for the first time as all of their furniture was in place.

She couldn't help but walk around looking at the rooms before finding herself in their bedroom sitting down on the bed. The bed felt like a cloud and she loved it, she decided it would be a good idea to take a nap as she waited for Lucas to get home from work. Her final semester started in a few weeks and she was excited because she wouldn't have to go to school again afterwards. She fell asleep with the thought of settling into the quiet life with Lucas, raising a family, trying to not make the mistakes her parents had once talked to her about.

"Riley," she heard Lucas' voice say. She couldn't help but smile as she pulled him close to her. She couldn't believe how real her dream was. "Riley I love you but you're choking me."

At the sound of his voice so close she jolted awake, "Sorry."

"I forgot how strong you are when you're asleep," he said rubbing his neck. "Come on I brought dinner."

She couldn't help but smile, "Okay, can we eat on the terrace?"

"Yes, but first grab a sweater, there may be heaters out there but I don't want you to get sick."

She did as he told her before following him out, before they reached the living room he covered her eyes and walked her towards the terrace.

"I have a surprise for you," he said as he guided her forward. Once outside she felt the cool breeze mixed with the outdoor heaters. It felt nice on her skin. "Don't open your eyes until I tell you," he said as he pulled away, she couldn't help but giggle thinking that he had a surprise for her.

"I won't," she said thinking about how he must be trying to set up a romantic dinner for them since they rarely spent so much time together. They both worked very hard but their date nights were precious.

"Okay, you can open them," he said.

She slowly opened her eyes to see that the terrace was lit up around them, on the ground were rose petals as Lucas kneeled at the center. Riley couldn't help but gasp as she saw him there holding out a ring box in front of her.

"Riley Matthews," he smiled. "I met you by chance, but I believe that in that moment the universe was trying to tell us something, I know we sometimes have our own problems, but I know that if you weren't there next to me I would be a lost man. It would make me the happiest man on the planet, if you would be my wife."

She could feel the tears fall down her face but it was the most beautiful moment she could have asked for, "Yes, Lucas Friar I will be your wife."


End file.
